Monday 13 September 2021

Me and Bridget Riley


I'm sorry to say that I have absolutely no connection with Brigitte Riley whatsoever.

However, I do have a penchant for her beautifully designed plasters; and I usually need several each day.

When I did my Foundation Course, I had a lecturer called Dave 'makes your eyes go funny' Mills (who was younger than me), who had worked on her paintings for a small sum. He was at Chelsea at the time, and she gave him a few shillings in exchange for his eyesight. She was no fool; she got others to actually paint her work.


I still have a few of Dave's works, but they'll never reach the dizzy prices of Ms Riley's paintings; which he probably painted anyway!

28 comments:

  1. my daughter has a box of plasters, (we call them bandaids), that look like bacon rashers

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    1. Very nice too; I hope she wears them for breakfast.

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  2. Designer plasters? Didn't know there was such a thing!

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  3. Delegation does not seem quite right in the world of painting. I wonder if Van Gogh was a delegator?

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    1. YP, re delegation, please do see my reply to Tasker below.

      Van Gogh was definitely not a delegator. It takes passion and genius to cut your own ear off in an absinthe fuelled fit of rage.

      Oh those sunflowers. To die for,
      U

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  4. I don't recognise the name Brigitte Riley Cro - could you explain please?

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    1. She was The Queen of Op Art in the late 60's to 70's. Her works include lage scale versions of my plasters.

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  5. I've written before about my friend from school who worked for her for quite a few years, painting her paintings and travelling the world exhibiting them. It seems like saying "my next song is going to be about longing for yesterday" beginning in E minor and then employing a young Paul McCartney to write it.

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    1. Your comparison limps. Riley's art was largely op-art. Op Art being more of a concept than "art" as we, so romantically, understand it. She meticulously outlined an idea of hers before "delegating" its final execution. Think Architecture. An architect will put his (or his client's) vision onto paper without ever lifting a brick and a trowel complete with mortar himself.

      U

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    2. I expect your friend knew Dave, there were always several people working for her.

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    3. My tutor on Foundation also worked for her.

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    4. Her work must have taken a long time to paint. The colour mixing must have been a nightmare.

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    5. Thank you, Ursula. That's a better comparison.

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  6. My paintings are all done by Banksy.

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  7. My plasters are mostly Elastoplast …… and I thought I was fashionable ….. I must get some like yours Cro to accessorise my outfits ! XXXX

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    1. Plasters by Burne-Jones, William Morris, or even Millais would suit you; I think.

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    2. I love a bit of Pre-Raphaelite so it’s the Edward Byrne-Jones plasters for me !!! XXXX

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  8. Replies
    1. There is something oddly satisfying when someone says out loud what you [that's me] only thinks.

      U

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    2. I wouldn't normally reply to something like this, but let me explain that my fingernails grow at an alarming rate.

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    3. I wish I had fingernails like that, mine are very short, being soft and easily torn. No "hardening" or "strengthening" treatments have worked over the last 40+ years, so I have given up and just keep them short. My mother had the same soft nails.

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  9. Plasters come flesh coloured and they either stick or mostly don't stick. We haven't got your fancy ones here yet. Mostly we use a piece of cotton wool soaked in Bettadine and wound round with a length of tape.
    Yours are very grande.

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    1. I have been known to use a similar system, with masking tape.

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  10. High end, designer plasters. Now, that's new to me.

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