Acrylic Paint, Wood

Colorful abstract geometric painting by Anthony Reans incorporating thin horizontal and vertical lines that form a diamond target-like pattern. Uses the Reversible Image illusion and Optical Color Mix illusion.

This is my first major effort in combining formal Op Art and Color Field idioms into one piece. I say it’s a major piece considering the scale and the planning that had to be done in order to achieve the precision in the composition. The reversible diamond shapes advance and recede depending on where the eye rests in the composition, Either looking at the horizontal lines Or the vertical ones. The color field approach helps lead the eye around, the color and contrast variations pulling and pushing focal points at random spots (especially if the viewer moves around in front of the painting, from side to side, and close to far). “Simplicate” means, "to make a system more complex so that the use of the system is easier or simpler.” The composition in the painting is made complicated and the colors are applied in a carefully balanced manner so that wherever the viewer concentrates, it’s simple to choose - using only the eyes, without having to think about it - which areas advance and recede. It’s simplicated. Note: in a typical Op Art approach, the artist would usually have painted in all one color, probably black with a white background, or blue lines with an orange background, etc. In that case, the lines would have been evenly spaced, uniform in weight, and all of them would have come to 90 degree angles, meaning every horizontal line would have met a vertical one, with no lines ending “in white space” like I’ve done them. The reason I’ve used color the way I have and made the lines random, is that I’m painting by intuition. There’s no planning ahead in regards to exact placement of each individual line. This gives my work spontaneity not usually seen in Op Art pieces, and energy not usually seen in Color Field. It’s like a musician playing by ear, improvising. "I’m painting by eye.” Gene Davis

Texas-born artist Anthony Reans has been painting professionally since 2001, and began his current abstract series in 2013, while earning his MA in studio art from Northwestern State University, Louisiana. He creates abstract compositions that concentrate on the connections between subjective reality, interconnectedness, spatial relations, surface, and perception.

H 48 in. x W 84 in. x D 2 in.