Summer Game

Interested in exploring the expressive potential of logical systems and inspired by the mathematics of the environment, Andrade — best known as a progenitor of the Op Art movement — used geometry and color to create abstract interpretations of organic ratios, biological systems, and natural rhythms. Summer Game — whose background features a vibrant, sunny, and seasonally appropriate color palette of yellows, from canary to goldenrod — is dominated by a heavy gray grid that deceptively appears to be three-dimensional. With the artist subjecting the rational pattern of the painting’s structure to methodic deformation, the grid’s openings appear to expand and contract across the canvas; no two are exactly the same. Even the thick borders surrounding each window-like rectangle defy all logical expectations for they are made from a variety of rhomboid shapes that don’t appear to follow a systematic design. Furthermore, with the inclusion of randomly placed polka dots — and a couple of ovals — that appear to romp around, on, and behind the grid as if it were an obstacle course, Andrade creates tension between color, shape, and form, giving the work a playful, game-like quality.