“Deep Blue”, the yellowish rays you see in this picture are a construct of your brain. My op art work is available as prints from Saatchi Art gallery.
Illusive Color Radial Beams
Op art
Scintillating Starburst: Seeing rays that aren’t there…
This is one of my oldest illusions I created in the 90s. In the picture you may see ghostlike dark radial beams. This illusion is a variant of the Herman’s scintillating grid illusion. I designed this illusion just by turning 45 degrees the Herman grid and then by applying a polar transformation.
Illusion of Color
Look at the colored rings from a distance. Then decide which ones have YELLOW inner circles, and which ones have BLUE inner circles.
My Op Art in PM Magazine
My optical art has been featured in the February issue of the German science magazine PM.
My Dossier on Visual Illusions: A Special Feature in Focus Magazine
For over 10 years, I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with Focus, an Italian monthly popular science magazine published in Milan.
In October 2020, Focus released issue #336, which featured my article and optical illusions. This special edition included a 10-page dossier on visual perception, showcasing over 13 original illusions I created, complete with explanations.
The cover of this issue also featured a unique effect I designed for Focus. As you read the main title, the cover image moves, and, intriguingly, the title changes depending on your perspective—read closely, and it says ILLUSIONI; look from a distance, and it transforms into COSA VEDI?
Euler Color Patchwork
Look at the picture from a certain distance and check which colors are in the patchwork. Image taken from my book “Fantastic Optical Illusions” available from Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/178739235X/?tag=archimelabpuz-20 and Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178739235X/?tag=archimedeslab-21
Amazing Illusive Bookmark
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
Subjective Motion
Which direction is the rotation? Some spokes appear to rotate CW while the disc rotates CCW.
More from: https://www.archimedes-lab.org/page17b.html
Fantastic Optical Illusions
“Everything we see hides another thing;
we always want to see what is hidden by what we see.”
– René Magritte
My book “Fantastic Optical Illusions” (ISBN: 178739235X) features all the best and most interesting illusion types: ambiguous and impossible figures, hidden objects, color and brightness effects, length, size and shape misperceptions, illusory moving patterns and image paradoxes.
This best-selling book has been first printed in 2004, since then I have made important updates on the latest discoveries in the world of perception, to be sure the book will continue to amaze both the young and the adult reader.
Available from Amazon UK and Amazon USA.
Is seeing believing? This book will prove the contrary
I really enjoy communicate the mysteries behind the science of perception in a simple and clear manner with the use of instructive images.
We live in a “reallusive” world… Illusions are not totally unreal, because we feel them as they were real. Reality is also a kind of ‘illusion’. The outside world is mediated through our sense organs: vision, hearing, taste, touch and smell. All what we perceive and feel are just REPRESENTATIONS of reality, not the reality itself.
Children have a different way of looking at the world. So, writing and illustrating optical illusion books for kids is not an easy task, because they are less fooled by visual illusions than adults. This is due to the fact that brain’s capacity to consider the CONTEXT of visual scenes, and not just focus on SINGLE PARTS of scenes, develops very slowly.
My new work “Optical Illusions” will make you question: “is seeing believing?”… The brain is an amazing thing, but it doesn’t always get things right when it comes to sight. My book is here to explain why, with astounding images, baffling puzzles, and simple reveals.
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