Printed History

TM Gallery, in collaboration with Ben Parsons x Hannah Payne, is pleased to present a new retrospective of prints by British contemporary artist, Bridget Riley. The retrospective will cover a 60-year period from the 1960s to 2020.

Riley pioneered the Op Art movement by challenging our perception through intricate geometric abstractions. Her dynamic, vibrant works on paper stretch the potential of surface and form, revealing an intrinsic visual rhythm. Bold patterns and delicate lines harmonise in a symphony of hues, creating optical vibrations that inspire sensations in both mind and body. This unique visual experience, feeling through looking, is activated by an oscillating juxtaposition of shape and colour.

Initially, Riley had reservations about making prints after it was suggested that the painting ‘Movement in Squares’ (1962) would make an excellent print in its own right. She expressed, “I had never made a print in my life. For me, prints were what you saw in the British Museum, with a very handmade look…” Needless to say the entire edition of 26 prints on the painting ‘Movement in Squares ‘ sold out immediately. And thus, the endeavour of visual exploration through print was started – “During preparatory work for a painting, I may make images which are tangential to the problems posed by the particular painting. Some of these images I return to and develop later”.

In 1965, Riley exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in a group show, The Responsive Eye drawing worldwide attention to the Op Art movement. Riley’s printmaking over the last 50 years has run parallel to the developments in her painting. Riley worked exclusively in black and white until the late 1960s when she shifted her palette to grey and then to colour. Since then, Riley has employed a rich array of colour in several bodies of work.

The 90’s yielded less than any other decade and is in part due to the very technically difficult forms of the ‘zig’ works of the time. The very productive period of the 00’s coincided with a number of contributary factors such as Karsten Schubert becoming Riley’s dealer and helping to reposition her as a major and internationally important artist, and perhaps in particular working with the print studio Artizan Edition, working closely with the exceptional Sally Gimson there, with whom she continues to work with to date.

Recent solo exhibitions include National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh and Hayward Gallery, London (2019); The Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, Japan (2018); Christchurch Art Gallery, New Zealand (2017); Graves Gallery, Museum Sheffield (2016); De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, toured to Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (2015) and National Gallery, London (2010).

She represented Great Britain in the Venice Biennale in 1968 where she was the first British contemporary painter, and the first woman, to be awarded the International Prize for painting. In 1974, Riley was named a CBE and in 1999, appointed the Companion of Honour. In 2003, the artist was awarded the Praemium Imperiale in Tokyo.

Riley’s works are held in numerous collections around the world including, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Kunstmuseum, Bern; Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; National Gallery of Modern Art, Tokyo; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Museu Colecção Berardo, Lisbon; Arts Council Collection, London; Tate, London; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Texas; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut.