C hromatically arresting and visually alluring, CODA embodies Bridget Riley's radical investigations into the optical potential of colour and the complexities of illusion and perception. Encapsulating the dramatic expression of the classical music genre from which the present work gets its title, CODA is the dramatic finale of a symphony of colour. The 'coda' of a piece of music is a final passage which brings a piece to an end, a recapitulation of the themes explored throughout the symphony. Such spectacle in the present work is revealed only through the extreme precision, skill and labour on the part of the artist, with "Each band [having] a clear identity" as Riley has remarked, "Step back and the colours begin to interact, further away still a field of closely modulated harmonies cut by strong contrasts opens up" (Bridget Riley, quoted in 'At the End of My Pencil', London Review of Books, vol. 31, no. 19, 8 October 2009, online). Hypnotically evading perspectival resolution, the expansive rectangular canvas of the present work extends to over three-metres in length, its alternating horizontal stripes of crimson, peach, blue and pink, when viewed from afar, create a dazzling visual experience that extends beyond the picture plane. The reaction of one colour juxtaposed against another engenders a wavering and rhythmic pulsation, an optical illusion that has anointed Riley as the undisputed leader of the Op art movement. Executed in 2016, and building upon Riley's ground-breaking visual investigations of the 1960s, CODA is an intensely evocative painting rooted in memory and suffused with sheer kaleidoscopic sensorial effect akin to a setting sun. 

The rhythmic staccato of horizontal lines seen in the present work creates a visual cadence which seemingly shifts and bends with every shift of perspective. Wrapping around the viewer, the uninterrupted lines stretch from end to end of the canvas, elongating the horizon, with the viewer encouraged to lose themselves in the luminosity radiating from the surface. Each colour blends and glows without the interruption of negative space, which together exudes a warm hue in dazzling, sunset shades. The surface of the canvas is at once redolent of natural layers of stratification, and reminiscent of the practice of Agnes Martin and other Minimalist protagonists, who similarly explored the possibilities of horizontal and parallel lines and chromatic duplication. Yet, Riley surpasses the aesthetic formalities of the Minimilasts, her work instead infused with a sense of joyful eccentricity, brimming with playful tonalities and dizzying range of visual stimuli. In the present work, Riley engenders a dialogue between the formal structure of the stripes and notions of weight, density, brilliance and opacity. Studying the work of the post-impressionists while a student in London, Riley took particular interest in Georges Seurat and Paul Signac. While rejecting such artists' meticulous pointillist technique, she instead concentrated on their systematic distillation of colour and their balanced use of complementary hues to delineate light, shade, depth and form. A work of chromatic complexity and vibrant beauty, CODA illuminates an entirely ground-breaking aesthetic language.

《尾 聲》(CODA) 是一幅引人入勝，讓人欲罷不能的作品，是畫家布麗奇・萊利 (Bridget Riley) 挑戰人類色覺以及錯覺和知覺複雜性的大膽實驗之作。畫作用極具張力而豐富的色彩凝住古典樂曲充滿戲劇性的結尾，因而得名。「CODA」是指樂章結尾的最後幾個小節，主旋律通常反覆出現，並貫穿交響樂。畫家以精準、充滿技巧和心機的方式在作品中重塑這個場面，萊利形容：「每一道色彩都有清晰的身份，」她又補充：「後退幾步就可以看到顏色開始互動，再走遠一點，畫作仍然是一片互相交纏的和諧，又被強烈的對比切割開來」（布麗奇・萊利，摘自〈At the End of My Pencil〉，《London Review of Book》，第 31 卷，第 19 刊，2009 年 10 月 8 日，載自網路）。這幅赤紅、桃色、藍色和粉紅相間的作品向橫伸延逾3米，製造漫延畫布之外的錯覺，以致遠觀令人產生眩暈感。萊利透過營造出相隣的顏色交織律動的視錯覺，確立她在視幻藝術運動的領袖地位。2016 年作的《尾聲》是萊利建基於 1960 年代視覺語彙研究的創新之作，糅合了萬花筒中變幻莫深的視覺效果，再演化成夕陽餘暉，深深印在觀賞者的腦海中，令人再三回味的畫作。

畫作中的橫向條紋就似富節奏感的跳音，視覺上呈現出樂章結尾的觀感，每個角度看起來都起伏不一。這些條紋由畫布的一端流暢地伸展至另一端，隨視覺移動而轉變彎曲，作為地平線的延伸包圍觀眾，並透過畫作的鮮艷色彩吸引觀眾陷入忘我之境。每種顏色都扭曲發光，但又不會影響負空間的結構，反而融合成為一抹溫暖閃爍的夕陽。畫布的表面佈滿一層層自然的色彩，與艾格妮斯·馬丁以及其他曾探索過無數水平或平衡線的可能性的極簡主義者遙相呼應。然而，萊利對超越極簡主義前人的美學，在作品中注入歡欣和活力，採用充滿玩味的色調，創造炫目的視覺刺激。她的作品是工整的條紋與顏色重濃明彩之間的對話。學生時期的萊利曾於倫敦研究後印象派的作品，她對喬治．秀拉 (Georges Seurat) 和保羅・席涅克 (Paul Signac) 的作品特別感興趣。雖然她不太喜歡他們細膩的點彩派技巧，但她聚焦於這兩位畫家有系統的用色和均衡使用色彩明暗、遠近和形狀烘托映襯。《尾聲》以斑駁灼亮的色彩體現了一個嶄新的美學，展現了既複雜又有序且生機蓬勃的絢麗視覺體驗。