Bridget Riley - ACE083.4

Flowers in windowbox. Riley and assistants; her VO says that interactions must be tried out. She draws curves with a template, her helpers paint. Her VO says that she uses two or three – recently five – colours chosen according to principles of contrast, harmony, etc.; she describes how these change as she progresses; she says that the way a colour will work depends on its size which means that "complete colour trials to determine the exact size of a painting are the most important studies before anything can be committed to canvas". Painting. Riley and assistant painting large vertical undulations; her VO describes the elements and structure of a painting which will "carry a particular conception of light and colour" She talks of building "a kind of web … in which one can blend and weave the colours together... ". Flowers; water. Riley VO reads Proust on colour, from a description of what she believes must be Monet’s water garden at Giverny; illustrations showing some of Monet’s water-lily paintings. Water, trees, grasses. Paintings. Riley at work. "The invented space … of the artist creates its own world and its own experience…", parallel to the real world and "above all, dependent on it". A painting must "offer an experience, offer a possibility". Riley with papers; paintings. Plain colours. Paintings. "Looking is a pleasure, a continual surprise…" Painting. "The activity of looking helps us to be more truthfully aware of the condition of being alive." Credits over film of Riley painting white surface; Riley with her helpers; paintings. BRIDGET RILEY.