▲ The artist ⓒ Seoul Art Center

Victor Vasarely's retrospective exhibition, 'The Responsive Eye' was held in Seoul, South Korea.

Victor is a Hungarian-born French master who is credited with changing the art of the 20th century. He holds worldwide recognition for being described by the Los Angeles Times as 'One of the Last Survivors of the German Bauhaus School'.

▲ KEZDI-DOMB, Acrylic on canvas, 160x160cm, 1968-1975 ⓒ Victor Vasarely

The artist majored in medicine but began to pursue an artist career, learning drawing and joining the art academy. He gained success as a commercial advertising designer after moving to Paris in 1930 after encountering the works of some of the most influential abstract artists of his time, such as Malevich, Mondrian, and Kandinsky.

Despite his achievements as a designer, he did not give up on his dream as a painter and made various attempts to escape the limitations of established art. After several attempts, the artist succeeded in discovering his formative language after passing through the era of abstract art.

▲ Orion Blanc Positive, BASF Polystyrene, 101x117x3cm, 1970 ⓒ Victor Vasarely

Victor began to gain fame as a representative artist of Op Art, an art style that creates illusions by creating optical illusions using geometric shapes, subtle color relationships, and perspective. He used a technique that distributed the view by expressing vivid movements in the plane using geometric abstraction and delirium through strict composition.

The artist's works are characterized by expressing the reaction and movement of the eyes on the canvas using the principles of science and mathematics, making them all feel different depending on the distance and location they see.

▲ Venus, Screenprint on plexiglass, 38x33x6cm, 1987 ⓒ Victor Vasarely

The exhibition is the first retrospective exhibition to be held in Korea in 33 years since it was held at the MMCA of Korea in 1990. The exhibition will feature some 140 representative works from the National Museum of Budapest and the Museum of Vasarely in Hungary, the artist's home country.

The audience can directly participate in the docent's exhibition commentary, art education programs for children, and Op Art workshop programs in the exhibition. Through these programs, the audience will be able to easily and interestingly understand abstract art, which was difficult. 

 

 

▲ The poster of the exhibition ⓒ Seoul Art CenterThe exhibition is at the Hangaram Museum, Seoul Art Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, until Apr. 21.

Sayart / Nao Yim, yimnao@naver.com