Bridget Riley: Recent Paintings 2014-17
David Zwirner, London Until Mar 10
The ‘op artist’ Bridget Riley has been a leading light on Britain’s art scene for as long as many of us can remember. Her breakthrough came in the early Sixties, with black-and-white paintings featuring dazzlingly arranged curves, zig-zags and geometric shapes. The ‘op’ label referred to the optical tricks she seemed to be playing on her viewers. In a decade of psychedelic experimentation, they fitted right in.
The ‘op artist’ Bridget Riley has been a leading light on Britain’s art scene for as long as many of us can remember
Since then, Riley has introduced colour and other elements to her art but broadly stuck to the same formula. Now, aged 86, at the David Zwirner gallery in Mayfair, she presents a selection of new work. It would be churlish to expect her to match the heights – and impact – of the Sixties. We don’t expect that of new songs by Paul McCartney or The Rolling Stones.
Her anodyne Measure For Measure paintings recall the visual-field tests carried out by opticians
The question is how well her pieces stand up, in 2018, on their own terms. And the answer is, rather well. Yes, there are a few fails. Her anodyne Measure For Measure paintings – each comprising squares of different-coloured dots – too closely recall the visual-field tests carried out by opticians. Overall, though, it’s a show to praise. At her best, in works such as Cascando, Riley creates patterns that function a bit like waves passing across her picture. Once you’ve ridden the wave a few times, you start to look closer for the constituent parts – to see how she has created it. But they’re hidden in plain sight, the organisation of her shapes (triangles and circular sectors in Cascando’s case) being too complex for us to fathom. The only option is to give in, go back to riding the wave and enjoy.
Riley’s work may not touch the soul as truly great art does, but she can still delight the eye.
ALSO WORTH SEEING
Rodger Law: From Satire To Ceramics
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich Until Mar 3
Rating: 
As co-creator of Spitting Image over 18 series, Roger Law reckons that he produced about 600 puppets. For his career retrospective, he has created one more: of President Trump.
Law shows he’s lost none of his skill for creating a clear likeness while exaggerating key features for comic effect. In Trump’s case, they’re his small hands, orange skin, rug of hair and gormlessly open mouth.
Law started out in the Sixties as a newspaper cartoonist, designing record covers for the likes of Jimi Hendrix and The Who on the sidecature ceramics by Roger Law
Law started out in the Sixties as a newspaper cartoonist, designing record covers for the likes of Jimi Hendrix and The Who on the side, before his greatest success with Spitting Image in the Eighties. The highlight of this exhibition is a wall of Law’s preparatory drawings for those famous puppets. The characters abound with humorous detail. In many cases, they had to be toned down for television. Also on display are some watercolours Law did of local flora and fauna after moving to Australia, as well as a few of the ceramics he has been making recently in the Chinese city of Jingdezhen.
These are moderately interesting, but Law’s true gifts lie as a caricaturist.