Friday, February 15, 2008

Playing with the mind's perception


An optical illusion is always characterized by visually perceived images that, at least in common sense terms, are deceptive or misleading. Therefore, the information gathered by the eye is processed by the brain to give, on the face of it, a percept that does not tally with a physical measurement of the stimulus source. A conventional assumption is that there are physiological illusions that occur naturally and cognitive illusions that can be demonstrated by specific visual tricks that say something more basic about how human perceptual systems work.
source: wikipedia

Trompe l'oeil (which by the way is French for "deceiving the eye", pronounced "tromp loy"). It uses perspective to "trick" the eyes of the viewer, but the difference lies in the nature of the trick. For trompe l'oeil, the viewer, standing in one particular (and usually conventional) spot, is tricked into seeing an invented image as if it were reality.

The best stunning example of this technique is the fresco painting on the ceiling of the Church of Saint Ignazio in Rome, created by Andrea Pozzo during 1691-1694. A semi-circular roof is transformed into a fantastic picture of the angels, cherubims and saints ascending to the heavens, It's as if the roof doesn't exist and it just extends indefinitely upwards.

Church of Saint Ignazio in Rome when seen directly below

same ceiling but seen from a different angle

detailed view of the ceiling.



Another great example of an optical illusion is by a very talented artist by the name of Julian Beever. Julian uses a technique called Anamorphosis to create the illusion of three dimensional illustrations when viewed from the correct angle.

This Make Poverty History drawing was requested by Live8 to support the pressure campaign on the G8 in Edinburgh. It was done in Edinburgh City Centre.

The same painting seen from another angle.

You can see more of his works on an earlier post here.




Some modern artist use unconventional methods to give the illusion of depth.

This escalator seemed to be powered by 2 giant-sized Duracell batteries. This is an Advertisement done by Ogilvy Malaysia.

This elevator's floor gives an illusion that there's no floor at all. Truth is, that it's just a painting done by artist Wile E. Coyote. Elevator viewed while going in

A brave fellow tried it out!

Would you use this elevator?

for more Amazing Illusions, Click here.