February 12, 2025 Your Source for Brentwood News

Hammer Museum Presents ‘Bridget Riley Drawings: From the Artist’s Studio’

February 5-May 28, 2023 at Westwood’s Hammer Museum 

“Bridget Riley Drawings: From the Artist’s Studio,” presented by the Hammer Museum at UCLA, will feature several never-before-seen works by the English painter. The exhibition will open on Feb. 5, 2023.

Organized in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago and the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, the show includes more than 90 sheets from Riley’s private collection and will be on view through May 28. This is the first and most extensive American museum exhibition in half a century dedicated exclusively to Riley’s drawing.

“Although she is best known for her remarkable abstract paintings, drawing is an essential aspect of Bridget Riley’s artistic practice,” Ann Philbin, director of the Hammer Museum. “This is of particular interest to the Hammer, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Morgan Library & Museum, all of which have a deep commitment to collecting, exhibiting and studying works on paper.”

The exhibition is curated by Cynthia Burlingham, Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs, Hammer Museum; Jay A. Clarke, Rothman Family Curator, Prints and Drawings, Art Institute of Chicago; and Rachel Federman, associate curator, Modern and Contemporary Drawings, Morgan Library and Museum.

Riley’s early student drawings made in the 1950s drew inspiration from the human form and nature to establish the foundation for her investigation of pure abstraction. In 1960 Riley moved abruptly from making representational drawings to creating purely abstract sheets that depict meticulously composed geometric forms in black and white. Although it marked a stark departure from her early figurative and landscape work, this new direction was in fact a solution to Riley’s earlier efforts to find a pictorial structure equivalent to vision itself. These studies range from working drawings on graph paper to finished gouaches and serve to anticipate her paintings. The drawings, along with a small selection of paintings, reflect what Riley considers an essential part of her, and any, artistic practice. She has described the process of drawing “as though there is an eye at the end of my pencil, which tries, independently of my general-purpose eye, to penetrate a kind of obscuring veil or thickness.”

In the late 1960s Riley shifted from employing exclusively black, white, and gray circles, squares, and triangles to include color in her energetic horizontal and vertical compositions. Her aim was to investigate visual perception and light effects through the adjacent placement of hues. In her stripes, whether horizontal, vertical, diagonal, or curved, Riley uses color to guide our optical sensations. Line, in her words, is “the basis of what you might call a color vocabulary, as Seurat used the dot.” Beginning in the mid-1970s, Riley explored an expanded range of color for her stripes.

“Reviewing and selecting works from the extensive body of drawings retained in Bridget’s studio has broadened and deepened our understanding of her practice and the larger context for her art,” shared Cynthia Burlingham, deputy director of curatorial affairs and exhibition curator for the Hammer Museum.

Related Posts

Retailers Impose Purchase Restrictions as Supply Chain Disruptions Cause Concern

February 10, 2025

February 10, 2025

Egg Limits Are Back – What’s Causing the Shortage? Retailers across the United States, including Costco and Trader Joe’s, have...

Esteemed Brentwood Entertainment Reporter Sam Rubin Honored at Major Awards Ceremonies

February 10, 2025

February 10, 2025

Industry Pays Tribute to a Broadcasting Legend With Special Recognition The late Sam Rubin, a longtime and beloved entertainment reporter...

New Bill Targets Crime in Disaster Zones – Here’s What You Need to Know

February 10, 2025

February 10, 2025

Lawmakers Push for Tougher Penalties To Protect Vulnerable Communities California lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at cracking down...

What about are you protected from future wildfires?

February 9, 2025

February 9, 2025

Our hearts go out to all those impacted by the recent wildfires and Santa Ana windstorms in Southern California. We...

Tree Trimmer Shocked by Power Lines in Westwood and Suspended 25 Feet in the Air

February 9, 2025

February 9, 2025

LAFD to the Rescue and LADWP Worked to De-Energize Power Lines The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) responded to reports...

Shore Hotel Remains Sustainability Leader

February 9, 2025

February 9, 2025

By Susan Payne On track to open its new coastal-inspired restaurant, Shore Hotel has excited new offerings and initiatives this...

Brentwood’s Newest Architectural Marvel Lists as a Modernist Masterpiece

February 9, 2025

February 9, 2025

Brand New Estate Blends Contemporary Elegance With Cutting-Edge Luxury A newly completed estate in Brentwood, designed by AD100-recognized architects Ramin...

Multiple Injuries, Deaths in Multi-Vehicle Crash on 405 Freeway in Westwood

February 9, 2025

February 9, 2025

Emergency Crews Extricated One Trapped Victim; Two in Critical Condition Emergency crews responded to the scene of a multi-vehicle crash...

Actor Will Arnett Lists Stunning Beverly Hills-Area Home for $22.5 Million

February 9, 2025

February 9, 2025

Comedy Star’s Modern Farmhouse Features Custom Podcast Studio Actor and comedian Will Arnett is selling his modern farmhouse-style home near...

Rescheduled 2024 Homeless Count Needs More Volunteers on the Westside

February 9, 2025

February 9, 2025

Not Enough Volunteers to Successfully Count Unhoused Angelenos This Year With the rescheduled dates for the 2025 Greater Los Angeles...

Brentwood Library Announces Fantastic February Events for Children and Families

February 7, 2025

February 7, 2025

Storytime, Brick-Building, Readings, and Live Music are Highlights This Month Althea Martinez, the Donald Kaufman Brentwood Library’s new children’s librarian,...

Student Protest Over Immigration Policies Leads to Walkouts Across the Westside

February 7, 2025

February 7, 2025

Walkout Turns Tense as Counter-Protester Confronts Teen in Video From Venice Students from Santa Monica High School (SAMOHI), Culver City...

Open Arms Art Show Runs Through Mar. 22 in Burbank

February 6, 2025

February 6, 2025

Opening Exhibition Saturday Feb. 8 from 12 to 8p.m. More than an art show, the Open Arms Exhibition is an...

Quiet Luxury: What’s Inside the New Regent Boutique and Sweet July

February 6, 2025

February 6, 2025

The Regent Santa Monica Beach, known for its perfect Santa Monica getaways, or local dining at its Mediterranean-based restaurant Orla...

Serial Predator David Pearce Convicted of Murders, Rape in Shocking Fentanyl Overdose Case in West LA

February 6, 2025

February 6, 2025

“Dead Girls Don’t Talk,” Fake Producer Abandoned Women’s Bodies Like Garbage A jury convicted David Brian Pearce of two counts...