I went to the Bridgit Riley exhibition at the Hayward Gallery this week.
Riley has long been one of my top two artist loves, and this week reinforced my feelings
Art for the neuro-psychologist I’d call it. She understood how important perception is, how to show people that they can’t always believe their eyes. That colours can be seen in black and white work, or that movement can be seen in static 2d work.
And she did all that whilst making art that is beautiful, that I want to spend time around, that speaks to me, that draws the eye
The exhibition includes her early work and inspirations, and that is also so important: everything comes from somewhere
So one exhibition to reinforce lessons about life. We are what we are as a product of our experience, and we can’t always believe our perception of how things are
We can hang on to the past or we can accept it and move away from it, but the past was there. It happened. It was real and it happened to us, shaping us.
We can decide how to view the past and understand that it is an interpretation - the way we see it. The way we perceive it. Other people in our lives who were at the various things will remember events the way remember them! We can see color where there is none, or no colour where there is colour
It’s a choice. It may need help to do it, but we can choose to see things differently