‘All Art is an Illusion‘

An artist starts with a two-dimensional surface; it may be a wall, a canvas, a board, paper or a pavement. By the use of paint or other media he must make the viewer enter his world and share his vision. But the actual world isn’t two-dimensional and the artist can’t create a three dimensional world on the surface. How do we get around this problem?

The answer is illusion – to represent the three dimensional world on the two dimensional surface the artist has to use systems of illusion that create the impression of space, of depth and of movement.

The pavement artists 3D Joe and Max (shown right) are masters of this kind of perspective trickery, creating pavement (and floor) art that when looked at from a certain viewpoint gives a startling and visually confusing three dimensional illusion.

Art Before Perspective