Shimmy and Shimmer

There are many women artists but very few contemporary ones that have broken the $1 million mark at auction. (This does not account for private transactions, of course). This is yet another strong indication of the skewed appreciation and the distribution of wealth in this country. Meaning, wealthy men buy art made by men. I don't necessarily agree with the ideologies that attach themselves to reaching such a publicly displayed threshold (this is a much longer conversation that I can be coerced into having over a bottle of smooth vodka) but one such artist to have done this is Bridget Riley.

By Bridget Riley, High Sky 2, 1992

Born in London in 1931, Riley became known for her complex and moiré pattern compositions during the era of Op (optic) art, a movement of scientific works which came into vogue during the 1960s. Her more recent works have employed softer palettes but the same kind of playfulness in terms of palette juxtaposition. I like to describe this effect of color interaction, like the facets of a diamond, as "shimmering", as if they're dancing with one another. A mural like this would be effective at the end of the long hallway where you can really stand back and witness the meandering lines of color patterns daily.

Original design by Yen Azzaro, WWM 2011