Vertigo: Op Art and a History of Deception 1520 to 1970

A dizzying overview of sensory illusions in art, from Piranesi to Riley

This eclectic volume presents a deceptive game of the senses, covering a wide spectrum ranging from panel paintings, reliefs and objects to installations and experiential spaces, to film and computer-generated art.

Op art works are by no means only directed at our sense of sight. With their powerful effects and optical illusions they lead to experiences of powerful sensory overkill.

This heavily illustrated book includes, in addition to op art originals such as Bridget Riley, Victor Vasarely and Jesús Raphael Soto, references to anti-classical art from the 16th to 18th centuries such as Parmigianino, Guido Reni and Giovanni Battista Piranesi to works by modernist precursors such as Josef Albers, Edward Wadsworth, Marcel Duchamp and Brion Gysin that also use pulsating patterns, beating and ephemeral after-images, paradoxical illusions of space, and other methods of optical illusion.