Art is a nourishment that is due to all, like knowledge, singing or vitamins. V.Vasarely (1908-1997)

Vasarely has been called the father of "Op Art"; but this title does not convey his importance in 20th century art completely. in fact, his achievement is by far richer than the exploration of optical effects. All of Vasarely's creative effors were directed towards achieving kinetic, multi-dimensional and commual art: active force in transforming the horizon of man.

Vasarely studied art at Alexander Bortnik Academy, Bauhaus of Budapest, and through Moholy-Nagy became acquainted with the doctorines of Russian Constructivism, German Bauhaus and De Stijl of Holland. He first experimented in the field of figurative art. Akind of ambiguity took up his thoughts even from that time: Whatis flat seems to stand out in relief, what is static appears to be dynamic. Vasarely's later research was based on just this basis and led to the creation of series of abstract works including oil paintings, black and white drawings, glass screens and 3-dimensional objects.

Vasarely was an artist with a scientific mind who set all his capacities towards investigating visual perception and its potential for the creation of optical kinetic effects. He accepted this general idea that a painting basically lives on in the eye and mind of the beholder and not only on the wall. In other words, the action of light and optical phenomena can transform lines, forms and colours in the vision of the beholder. For example, the onlooker's eye tends to create after-images when confronted with sharp contrasts of black and white, or the juxtaposion of certain hues. Complexty and composition causes an increase of interference in visual perception and therefore the work of art gains a dynamic aspect. Vasarely was able to achieve great success in the field of kineticism by using exact geometric principels in permutable "binary structures".

Vasarely continued towards an optical kinetic art, first rid his painting of natural appearances, and profiting from Malevich, Mondrian and Herbin turned towards geometrical abstraction. His approach was intellectual and methodical, and during each phase he calculated the moral, social and aestheitc results of his work. When in 1952 he began to paint with flat colours, he not only thought about the ways of organizing his work, but also had clear conceptions of the value of pure art-regardless of individual vision,method of rendering, medium and size of the works of art. In 1955, with the publication of "Yellow Manifesto", he knew easel painting to be outdated and suggested the necessity of the unifying of the plastic arts. Subsequently, when he invented optic art in 1957, he envisaged a new function for art. He came to the conclusion that a work of rt neither is a reflection of the inner world nor a model, rather it is just a thing resulting from "work", the only justification of which is its presenting beauty and happiness to man and participation in his peace and equilibrium.

The goal of optical kinetic art is the creation of harmony with artficial cityscapes, and making them appropriate for living . Vasarely has taken a big step towards the realization of this goal by inventing a coherent and exhaustive system; and as such he is also to be counted among the most prominent artists of the 20th century.

R. PAKBAZ