Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A school of abstract art characterized by the use of geometric shapes and brilliant colors to create optical illusions, as of motion, and free the art of all but visual associations.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun art A genre of abstract art that uses geometric shapes and vivid colours to create optical illusions, such as an illusion of movement.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a style of abstractionism popular in the 1960s; produces dramatic visual effects with colors and contrasts that are difficult for the eye to resolve

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[op(tical) art.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Short for optical art.

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Examples

  • In the op art (short for optical art) movement she helped pioneer, paintings and viewers weren’t placed in a passive, one-way relationship, but in an undulating dialogue where the more you look the more you see, and the more you see the more you question what you’re seeing.

    Bridget Riley at the Hayward Gallery exhibition review Eddy Frankel 2019

Comments

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  • "Op art, also known as optical art, is a genre of visual art, especially painting, that makes use of optical illusions. Op art is also known as geometric abstraction and hard-edge abstraction, although the preferred term for it is perceptual abstraction.

    Optical Art is a method of painting concerning the interaction between illusion and picture plane, between understanding and seeing. Op art works are abstract, with many of the better known pieces made in only black and white. When the viewer looks at them, the impression is given of movement, hidden images, flashing and vibration, patterns, or alternatively, of swelling or warping."

    _Wikipedia

    January 25, 2008

  • Some great op art

    June 6, 2008

  • Cool!

    June 6, 2008

  • The Enigma of Op Art

    October 2, 2008