Welcome to the social design: loose lessons from the stylized representation of the social in cinema and print. A blog very often about the interior design, fashion, social manners, and music created for and reflected in vintage cinema and print. Especially from the Sixties and Seventies, especially Italian, and especially from swingin' party scenes. We're awfully big on disco hippies and the OpArt accent here. Guaranteed, of course, to wander off on the occasional tangent into (maybe?) related subject matter, with plenty of tongue-in-cheek commentary for your consideration along the way. Comments are welcome, so please consider yourself invited...


Wednesday, February 16, 2011

OP ART VILLA FROM "MODESTY BLAISE" (1966)

    







#14: SOMETIMES FRANKLY MORE IS MORE.

Those of you who have followed from the start might recall the post from January 11, 2011 - and the very first of the design principles thus far posted - #1:  USE GRAPHIC OP-ART PRINTS TO ENLIVEN AND CONTEMPORIZE AN INTERIOR, EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO WEAR THEM YOURSELF. It's no secret I think Op Art accents are the deal, really my kind of chic. 

So the other night I'm sitting around watching films with Babydoll and Mr. Arge, as often we do, and at some point into 1966's Modesty Blaise we come across this scene: a peek inside the villa of the criminal mastermind Gabriel (played by the silver-wigged Dirk Bogarde). I almost passed out, these wall treatments are so hot! 

I mean, really, why just accent with Op Art when you can full-tilt marinate in it? 

I'll also applaud the designer's use of color, which keeps it very seaside fresh and I suspect also softens down the optical effect to something easier to live with, otherwise very intense in high-contrast black and white...




Movement in Squares by Bridget Riley, 1961


 
Do check out this excellent Brittish website (http://www.op-art.co.uk/) for more information on Op Art and the artists instrumental in its development, like Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely, as well as contemporaries.  Plus the Sound Matrix under the "Music" section is worth tripping out on for at least twenty minutes.



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