This year is the 100 year Centenary of the birth of Michael Kidner RA, one of the early pioneers of Optical Art (OP Art) in the UK.

Op Art is a category of art concerned with the optical effects of colour and shape. Kidner’s interest was in mathematics, chaos and wave theories, and his works are characterized by stripes, concentric circles, waves and moiré patterns which cause varying dazzling optical effects of movement and coloured afterimages. His work was included in the ground-breaking exhibition The Responsive Eye at MOMA, New York and subsequent tour of the USA in 1965 which brought attention to the Op Art movement around the world.

His important early contributions to this popular area of contemporary art set in motion an interest in optics that remains important to this day, with leading artists such as Bridget Riley.

See more from Michael Kidner here.