Francis Celentano

Seattle artist Francis Celentano’s latest exhibition New Paintings presents mesmerizing images that further cement his position in the history of and resurgent interest in Op Art. In this show, Celentano’s acrylic paintings involve the concept of overlapping patterns and the results of their intersections. The surfaces on which he paints include triangles, circles and rectangles, with pattern juxtapositions applied in an electrifying range of color, including orange, yellow, blue, green, red, black and white. Celentano moved to Seattle from New York in the 1960s to become Professor of Painting at the University of Washington. It is here he began to develop his interest in color theory. Rather than using color in a traditional manner, to depict something else, he immersed himself in its theories, developing ideas in hard edge painting and optical art. Resonance can be found between his work and that of other notable Op artists like Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely.