Circles

Rachel Federman: Of all the elements Riley uses in her work, the circle poses the biggest challenge. This drawing from 1970 is connected to a series of paintings Riley waited forty years to make. In this clip, she discusses a related series of disc paintings, called Measure for Measure.

Bridget Riley: That problem of the integral nature of a circle, uh, the fact you can't really break it. Measure for Measure paintings, the viewer, you, me, when I'm working, um, I explore possible glances that you may have. You may pick up this diagonal, that diagonal, another one. As you see one, another one comes up to replace it. So like our own looking, it moves.