Vibra 2

Joseph Stanislaus Ostoja-Kotkowski, known as Stan, was a pioneer in the field of ‘Chromasonics’, the name given to the 1970s artistic field of working with light and using sound to form shapes and colours. Ostoja was also deeply interested in Op Art developed his interest alongside his experiments with manipulating light.  

Popular in the 1960s, Op Art exploited the possibilities of optical phenomena to create images that vibrated and dazzled. Vibra 2 is an excellent example of using colour and pattern to create the illusion of shimmering and flickering.  

Ostoja studied art in Poland, Germany, and Melbourne and eventually settled in Stirling in the Adelaide Hills in 1955. From 1954 to 1955 he worked in the Leigh Creek coalfields. In 1968 he recalled, 

‘In the centre of Australia, I was struck by the iridescence of the colour ... not only did the colour seem to be vibrating with intensity but at the same time it gave the impression of being something solid. [...] The surroundings were drowned in an exciting light that had a life of its own.’ 

Capturing this intensity became the focus of his art, which he often achieved by using laser technology, as in his first production of Sound and Image at the Adelaide Festival of Arts in 1968.