Do Not Adjust Your Eyesight - the History of Op Art
25 February 2026 at 11:00:00
Winston Churchill Hall, Ruislip
Szem by Victor Vasarely, 1970
Short for "Optical Art", Op Art is characterized by geometric patterns that seem to vibrate, swirl, or bend as you view them. Artists have long been interested in the nature of perception and the 1950s saw advances in psychology and technology and new insights into the relationship between the outside world, our vision, our brain, and our experiences. Op Art was a movement rooted in the very experience of seeing.
French-Hungarian artist Vasarely (1906 - 1997) had become entranced by patterns of chessboards and zebra stripes in the late 1930s; these became the quintessential framework for his art. His early adoption and development of the visual language of Op Art and his innovations in colour and optical illusion had a strong influence on many modern artists and earned him the title of 'grandfather' of the Op Art movement.
Bridget Riley, born in 1931 in Norwood, South London, became in the 1960s an icon not just of Op Art, but of contemporary British painting, and in 1968 she was the first woman to win the painting prize at the Venice Biennale.
Today's Speaker Cindy Polemis is an art historian, independent lecturer and art guide. She has a BA in Modern History from Oxford University and as a mature student she went back to university to study first for a BA and then for a Masters in History of Art at Birkbeck College, London University. Before that she spent many years as a radio producer and presenter for the BBC World Service working in news and current affairs.
Since 2016 Cindy has worked as a lecturer and an official art guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern. She has also been a trustee at the Museum of the Home, formerly the Geffrye Museum. Cindy has accumulated a wide range of art historical knowledge ranging from 18th European and British art to the contemporary international art scene. She has been an official guide for both Frieze Masters and Frieze Art Fairs in London. She is particularly keen to draw parallels with art and social history and her lectures are accessible and engaging, drawing out the stories of art and artists which are steeped in human emotions and experiences which we all share.
Cindy Polemis