Bridget Riley is a British artist who has been working since the sixties. She created her first black and white painting in 1961, after seemingly endless drawing and preparation. Her aim was to convey a message about the nature of things, of relationships - the extreme contrast of the black and white proving that there are absolutes.

Riley became intensely involved in the creation of this work and a number of black and white works followed. They were greeted enthusiastically by critics, the public and the fashion world - perfect symbols of the ‘Swinging Sixties’. The style, which was also adopted by others, became known as Op Art, a reference to optical illusion effect of the works.

In time Riley added grey and then moved to colour, initially focusing on stripes. Rather than the contrast of black and white, these works are about pure colour and the radiant light produced by the juxtaposition of the colours. There is also a strong sense of rhythm in the colours which with the glow emphasises the affinity to nature of the paintings.

In her most recent paintings Riley has introduced the curved line and cut the dominant vertical lines with diagonals, upsetting the balance of the stripes and creating a sense of shifting light.