Op Art and Kinetic Art - Visual Art Theory Notes and Summary
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Course
Visual Arts and Music
Institution
12th Grade
Simple key points as well as a deeper understanding of this art movement can be found in this document. The most influential artists of this movement as well as their works have been analysed and images of each artwork is shown (two artists and two works per artist). Information is taken from the I...
Op Art and Kinetic Art
● Op and Kinetic Art were originally both linked to movement. Both styles were
represented at an exhibition Le Movement in Paris in 1955.
● The difference between the two is that Kinetic artists were interested in the idea of
real motion while the Op artists were interested in virtual movement.
● Both these styles developed simultaneously with Pop Art in the 1960s as a result of
the new attitude to abstraction among artists in general.
● The word 'kinetic' comes from the Greek 'kinesis' meaning ‘movement’, therefore
artworks which are Kinetic involve movement. Artists have always been fascinated with
the portrayal of movement, but the kinetic artists are interested in movement itself and
the physical reality of movement is therefore an integral part of their artworks.
Influences:
● Artists have tried to include movement or the suggestion of movement in art since the
1920s with Gabo, Tatlin, Vasarely, Tinguely who used movement as a central part of their
artworks. They believed that rhythm, structure and time was as important as the 3D
aspect.
● The Pointillists, a Post-Impressionist group can be seen as one of the forerunners of
Op Art. Instead of mixing the colours on their palettes, they used the optical effect of
pure colours, painted in dots, in their paintings. The spectator's eyes were supposed to
blend the colours when looking at the painting from a distance - optical mixing.
● The works and theories of Josef Albers influenced the development of Op Art. He
emphasised the relationships between colours. The deceptiveness of colours due to
the influence of different colours on each other, is the topic of his paintings.
● The ideas supporting Kinetic Art started with the Futurists as seen in their manifesto in
1909.
● After World War II some of the Russian Constructivists the Futurists for not recreating
movement in their art. They planned to work towards an artform in which movement is
central to the artwork. Rhythm, structure and time are as important as the
three-dimensional structure and visual image of the sculpture. They rejected the idea of
mass that was so important to traditional sculpture.
The characteristics of Op art and Kinetic art
● Op Art is a retinal art that creates optical ambiguity and physical disorientation
through the representation of repetitive shapes and colours and explores the limitations
of the human eye.
● Kinetic Art explores how things look when they move. It could be the movement of the
parts of the artwork set in motion by an internal mechanism or an external stimulus,
such as light, air or the spectator. The effect would be the optical transformation of the
elements out of which the work consists. Over time Kinetic Art developed in response to
an increasingly technological culture.
Subject matter: Op Art has been described as the generator of visual responses. Most of
the artworks associated with this style provoke illusionary images and sensations and this leads
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