Urban Butterflies

Mantra is a French muralist and street artist, born in Metz (East of France) in 1987. He is a self-taught artist and currently one of the most important “avant-garde” graffiti artists in Europe.

Having developed over many years a very personal technique and skills, Mantra is able to realize artworks on any surface and of all scales using a great level of detail and realism. Mantra’s artwork bring concrete walls to life around the world, from Zaragoza, to Paris, passing by Vienna, Lima, Seattle, Brussels, Quito and Bogota.

The artist pays tribute to his childhood exotic heroes (butterflies, owls, spiders, birds…) in a realistic and lively style, like a mirror reflecting on the cries of a nature that we don’t hear anymore.

I love butterflies… There is no doubt that they have significant meanings to us. Butterflies are deep and powerful representations of life. Many cultures associate them with our souls. Around the world, people view the butterfly as representing endurance, change, hope, and life.

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Godzilla could turn off that switch!

on_off_switch Escif is a Spanish muralist and street artist, most of his work can be found in the streets of his town, Valencia, but also in countries such as Canada, France, Italy, Poland and more.
The use of subdued colors and simple lines helps the artist make a humorous statement on various sensitive social or political issues, like in this gigantic mural for Poland’s “Katowice Street Art Festival”.

Juxtaposed next to those who passers-by, the artwork looks ridiculously large. Carefully painting just a few colors, Escif gives the illusion that some sort of giant can really turn off that switch!

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Shadows Creating The Illusion of Depth

I particularly enjoyed the fishpond mosaics with 3D trompe-l’oeil effects by Gary Drostle. Gary is a UK award winning artist specializing in murals and mosaics. He made a series of fishpond floor mosaics with golden fish, the shadow of which creates the illusion of depth. The circular concentric ripples even boost the 3D depth effect of the compositions. I love the simplicity and ingenuity of these stunning pieces of art!

3D Mosaic fishpond

3D Mosaic fishpond 2

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Would you dare run on it?

This wavy floor is actually a mind-boggling optical illusion that discourages people from running down the hallway (in fact, the floor is a completely flat surface!).

Manchester firm Casa Ceramica used a neat combination of black and white tiles to make the floor along the hallway look as though it is uneven making the tiles appear to slope away into a dip.

floor illusion 2

The illusion only works in one direction, so you will be perfectly safe on the way out.

floor illusion

The making of the floor.

Many visual illusions have already been used to try and slow down traffic like this 3D-painted zebra crossing trialed in Iceland that provides an illusory effect of white blocks floating over the road.

zebra-cross illusion

 

TangraMagic Puzzle

Tangramagic puzzle

TangraMagic, a new manipulative puzzle for classrooms or just for fun..

This unique puzzle of my creation  is ideal for teaching math basic skills, problem solving and critical thinking in an exciting way! The vanishing geometrical effects will hold juniors and seniors’ attention. All the secret of this game is concealed in two numbers: 5 and square root of 7.
Tangramagic puzzle 2

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Different but Equal

It happens sometimes to read on a snack the following notice: “with chocolate taste”, written in uppercase. This statement tricks our mind! In fact, the vast majority of us think that such a snack MUST contain chocolate, no one thought however that a flavor is not a substance and most probably the snack we bit into contains only an ‘illusion’ of chocolate.

The same occurs with colors, our brain is easily tricked by them. Colors are just like ‘flavors’, they may smell, pardon… look like a specific color, but they are just an illusory subjective sensation, not an ‘external’ reality. Colors undoubtedly change depending on their surrounding or the context in which they are viewed. More mind-blowing still is the fact that colors that are identical may appear to be different under certain conditions, and colors that are different may look the same. Such a curious effect is called “color induction”. Continue Reading

How To Draw Incredible Optical Illusions

This is one of my favorite book projects commissioned by Imagine Publishing.
[You can get this book from Amazon US or Amazon UK]

This book dissects the most fascinating and confounding black and white optical illusions, patterns and tiling, explaining in a concise fashion how they work, how to design and create them, and how to personalize and play with them to your heart’s content. With accessible yet fascinating text and workable samples, this intriguing art ‘cookbook’ is appropriate for graphic designers, teachers, artists, art lovers and the curious who enjoys contemplating how the mind works and how the eye sees.

In the excerpt below I explain how to create a self-moving pattern. Continue Reading