Modern art

Op Art Metal Bookmarks

Gianni Sarcone

As an artist, I enjoy including subliminal messages or figures in my work. My paintings, photographs and collages play on the foreground and background relationship of our visual perception and represent common or iconic faces the viewer has to rediscover.

In this magical bookmark of my creation, a portrait of M. L. King appears when held over a blank page or up to a light. From his famous words, we are reminded that, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” A neat gift available from Art of Play.

While in this one below, a portrait of Gandhi appears when held over a blank page or up to a light — a subtle reminder to read with intention and “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Still available from my partner Art of Play.

Enlightening Exhibition

Gianni Sarcone

Per celebrare la luce è stato realizzato un percorso espositivo nell’Università di Firenze dedicato alle illusioni ottiche. La mostra, curata da un comitato scientifico, ospita anche molte delle mie opere.

To celebrate light, an exhibition’s itinerary was created at the University of Florence to explore the world of optical illusions. The exhibition, curated by a scientific committee, also hosts many works of mine.

Maggiori informazioni / More information

Subliminal Faces

Gianni Sarcone

This series of works questions the many cognitive aspects of faces’ recognition. People often see hidden faces in things, clouds, landscapes, or in architectural structures… Finding the latent or virtual image hidden in the manifest image is a mental process related to the concept of the “lost object” used in psychoanalysis. As an artist, I enjoy including subliminal messages or figures in my work. My paintings, photographs and collages play on the foreground and background relationship of our visual perception and represent common or iconic faces the viewer has to rediscover.

The Master of Numbers
Collage – mixed media, 2006

Photomosaic portrait of Albert Einstein made with random photographs of numbers.
It is only when the viewer moves away from the image that the portrait of Einstein appears. It is the distance that creates and unveils the truth, because everything is relative as Einstein once said and everything depends on the context, the environment or the point of view.

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Op Art On Metal (2)

Gianni Sarcone

A visual surprise is hidden within this magical bookmark I created for my partner Art of Play. From one perspective, the grooves in the metal die-cut card seem to be an abstract radial design but place the pattern against a solid dark background and a familiar portrait emerges.

Can you guess who’s this female Mexican artist who once said: “Everything changes, everything moves, everything revolves, everything flies and goes away.”

Bookmark available from Art of Play.

Frida Kahlo
FK bookmark available from Art of Play.
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Op Art On Metal

Gianni Sarcone

Below are two neat optical illusion projects for which I was commissioned by “Art of Play”. From one perspective, the grooves in the metal die-cut bookmarks seem to be an abstract design but place the pattern against a solid clear or dark background and a familiar figure pops into view! These bookmarks are a sliver of wonder that hides between the pages to guard your place in any story.

Everything is relative with this magical bookmark of my creation depicting the famous theoretical physicist. Engraved with one of Einstein’s most famous quotations: “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.”

Einstein bookmark – 1
Available from Art of Play: https://www.artofplay.com/products/einstein-bookmark
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Amazing Brightness Constancy Effect

Gianni Sarcone

Look carefully at the saw-tooth wave patterns on this picture. Is the background of the picture uniformly gray or are there different shades of gray?

Kolozanges (2013-2021), © Gianni A. Sarcone

Brightness constancy makes some vertical strips look darker, when in fact the gray background is all the same shade of gray.

This op art work is available as prints and canvases from my official online Gallery.

Moona Lisa

Gianni Sarcone

In 1997, I remixed the Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting Mona Lisa into 142 perfectly spaced color beads placed at the intersections of an imaginary two-dimensional triangular network. Close up, the picture of the set of beads makes no sense, but if you see it from a distance you will perceive (or at least ‘guess’?) the portrait of Mona Lisa, the most famous Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting.

hidden mona lisa
Hidden Mona Lisa (1997), © Gianni A. Sarcone
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