Red Dominance
Red Dominance
Signed Print
Bridget Riley
Screenprint, 1977
Signed Print Edition of 100
H 97cm x W 50cm
Critical Review
Red Dominance is a signed screen print in colour, executed in 1977 in an edition of 100 by the British Op Art pioneer Bridget Riley. Composed of colourful lines that appear to twist and turn on the two-dimensional surface, Red Dominance is a significant work in Riley’s oeuvre, representing her first forays into the optically dazzling potential of certain colour combinations in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
A purely visual sensation, Riley’s colour combinations, although appearing random, are the result of careful consideration. Using only four colours in repetition, Riley expands the canvas’s physical dimensions in Red Dominance. As the title suggests, red is the dominant colour in this composition with green, the colour lying opposite to red in colour space, creating a striking contrast. Such combinations of opposing colours maximally stimulate the viewer’s perception, causing the colours to shimmer along the edges where they meet. Red Dominance demonstrates the beginning of Riley’s experimentation with colour, for which the artist would become renowned.
