Ambiguous figures

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.

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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Apparitions

Gianni Sarcone

This ghostly face appears to mysteriously change its features when you look at it for a while (Some viewers have even reported experiencing traumatic visions!). But that’s not all – if you unfocus your eyes and look steadily through the image, you’ll notice that after about 10-15 seconds, the face gradually disappears…

Ghost Faces / Apparition – Mixed media (2011)

This spooky portrait is created by merging together 50 common human faces. The process of averaging multiple exposures of human faces isn’t really new. In fact, as early as 1879, Sir Frances Galton experimented with this photographic technique, and others have since followed suit, using it for artistic or social purposes. Artists like Ken Kitano, Jason Salavon, Donald Scott Bray have all borrowed this technique for their own work.

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Amazing Illusive Bookmark

Gianni Sarcone

Here is a neat optical illusion project I was commissioned by “Art of Play“. From one perspective, the grooves in the metal die-cut bookmark seem to be an abstract design but place the pattern against a solid background and a familiar figure pops into view!

Available from: https://www.artofplay.com/products/einstein-bookmark

Everything is relative with this magical bookmark depicting Albert Einstein.

Mephistopheles and Margaretta, a double statue

Gianni Sarcone

The “Salar Jung Museum” is an art museum located at Dar-ul-Shifa, on the southern bank of the Musi River in the city of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. In this museum is exhibited a captivating double-figure wood sculpture built in the 19th century A.D. in France. It stands before a mirror and shows the facade of a nonchalant Mephistopheles and the image of a demure Margaretta in the mirror.

The wooden double statue of ‘Mephistopheles and Margaretta’ representing evil and good are characters from Goethe’s famous work ‘Dr.Faust’ (1808) and tells the story of love, heroism and tragedy.

double statue Mephistophele Margareta Continue Reading →