Bridget Riley

An artist's early work is inevitably made up of a mixture of tendencies and interests, some of which are compatible and some of which are in conflict. ”

In my earlier paintings, I wanted the space between the picture plane and the spectator to be active. ”

I used to build up to sensation, accumulating tension until it released a perceptual experience. ”

Painters have always needed a sort of veil upon which they can focus their attention. It's as though the more fully the consciousness is absorbed, the greater the freedom of the spirit behind. ”

Painting is, I think, inevitably an archaic activity and one that depends on spiritual values. ”

For me nature is not landscape, but the dynamism of visual forces. ”

I work with nature, although in completely new terms. ”

His failures are as valuable as his successes: by misjudging one thing he conforms something else, even if at the time he does not know what that something else is. ”

There was a time when meanings were focused and reality could be fixed; when that sort of belief disappeared, things became uncertain and open to interpretation. ”

As a painter today you have to work without that essential platform. But if one does not deceive oneself and accepts this lack of certainty, other things may come into play. ”