David Richard Gallery | New York - <I>Retinal Response<BR> Optical Art from 1964 to

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Retinal Response
Optical Art from 1964 to 2026: Color, Pattern, Shape, and Line
April 16 - June 13, 2026

_I_Retinal Response_BR_
Optical Art from 1964 to

Introduction

It has been 6 decades since "The Responsive Eye”, the exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City that ushered in Op Art. Since then, artists, academics, and collectors continue to create, curate, collect and enjoy the challenges to visual perception and mind-bending imagery from this visual phenomenon and art movement.

This current survey includes the work from 9 artists that spans historical paintings from 1964, by Henry Pearson whose work was exhibited in the "The Responsive Eye” presentation in 1965, and new paintings from 2026 by Matthew Kluber that layer color using his custom-made stencils to provide the patterns.

Historical selections from the 1960s and 70s include: early artworks from 1964 by Henry Pearson with black, undulating parallel lines evocative of topographical maps and varying land elevations; classic black and white, patterned optical artworks by Ernst Benkert; paintings leveraging circular shapes and color by Siri Berg; plus circular shapes in arrays of color and gradients of shades of a single color to create the perception of overlapping planes in space by Claire Blitz; as well as high-key, fluorescent colors and tubular shapes painted by James Kelly.