Optical illusion art began showing up in the 1950’s with the contrasts between black and white. Artists wanted to confuse the public’s perception of things. Throughout the years, the rise of technology has had a great influence on optical illusion art. It pushed artists to push more boundaries of space and perception. 3D street art began becoming more prominent in the 1980’s. Below are some 3D street art that more recent, all pay a lot of attention to detail.
Oh Crumbs!
“Oh Crumbs!” was painted by Julian Beever in the 2000’s. This street art painting is located in Salamanca, Spain. Beever is a British artist who began anamorphic painting in the early ’90s, meaning he created illusions of three dimensions when viewed from a particular angle. Anamorphic painting can’t be seen as 3D by a naked eye, you can only tell from a photo of it. I love all the different shades of blue throughout this street art painting. The darker blue gives the sense of depth. Especially the water, the darker the blue the deeper the depth. I also love how the little chunks of ice look like they are floating and they give the illusion that you can see the bottom half of the ice under the water.
White Water Rafting
“White Water Rafting” was also created by Julian Beever. This piece of street art is located in Charleston, West Virginia. I love the contrast between the blue and the white, it gives it a sense of water rushing and crashing down. The contrast also gives the wavy texture to the water. I also love the different cracks and the opening filling of the stream flowing through the sidewalk. The shading gives a depth effect, like the water is going under the sidewalk. I love looking at all of Julian Beever’s 3D painting, he makes realistic, funny interactions with them.
The Tower
“The Tower” was created by Kurt Wenner. This street art painting is located in Concepcion, Chili. Kurt Wenner is an American artist who is best known for his development of 3D pavement art. I love the sense of depth in this painting. It really gives the effect that you are standing on the top of the buildings looking far down. I also love all the bright colors, it really makes the bricks on the buildings pop. The first detail that catches my eye is the kites flying over top of the buildings. Wenner uses a depth effect called macropsia, where objects within an affected section of the visual field appear larger than normal, causing the person to feel smaller than they actually are.
The Belgium Underground
“The Belgium Underground” was also created Kurt Wenner. This street art painting is located in Brussels, Belgium. At first glance, I love the stairway going down to the underground. The shading of them gives them a downward effect. On the wall, I love how it seems like the inside of the underground. From the angle of the photo, it’s almost like you are peering down into the busyness of it. I love the attention to detail of the underground, from the people to the other distant tunnel. This street painting really gives me the sense of wanting more and makes me curious of what is actually in the Belgium underground.
The Crevasse
“The Crevasse” was created by Edgar Mueller in August of 2008. This street art painting is located in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland. “The Crevasse” was supported by the Goethe Institution Germany at the “Festival of World Culture.” Mueller is my favorite artist out of the 3. His works just amaze me by how big and detailed they are. “The Crevasse” really makes me think I am looking at a crack in a glacier about to fall in. I love his use of different shades of blue to create depth to the painting. I also love his attention to detail of the “falling” ice chunks. I believe this detail gives the painting more character and more realism.
Tribute to Mt. Fuji
“Tribute to Mt. Fuji” was also created by Edgar Mueller in August of 2013. The street art painting is located in the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art in Kofu, Japan. I am just in awe with this painting, the attention to detail is amazing. One thing I love about it is the waterfall flowing down the center of the painting. The color of the water changes from yellow to light blue to white when crashing into the water below. At the bottom of the waterfall, I love all the different colors of blue and greens and the contrast between the lighter and darker colors giving it a wavy texture. I also love all the bright pastel colors in the background, it gives it an almost magical, light tone. Another thing I love about this painting if the meaning behind it. The painting is like you are peering into Mt. Fuji and it looks magical and mystical, Mueller wanted that. He was fascinated by the beautiful nature in this area and expressed it through his painting.
Works Cited
3D Illusions, http://www.julianbeever.net/index.php/phoca-gallery-3d
“3D Pavement Art.” Kurt Wenner :: Master Artist, https://kurtwenner.com/3d-pavement-art/
“3D Pavement Art.” Edgar Mueller [Projects], http://www.metanamorph.com/index.php?site=projects
Lane's blog 
Looking at these pieces was literally jaw-dropping! Every single one of these is absolutely incredible. My favorite is “Tribute to Mt. Fuji” There is so much detail on the rocks. There are so many cracks and crevices. “The Crevasse” looks so cool too. There’s so much depth in this, it looks like it could be never-ending. “The Belgium Underground” reminds me of the work of the artist Ben Heine, who creates pencil drawings and combines them with photography. I can’t imagine how long it must’ve taken to create all of these pieces.
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The art you picked truly is amazing. Each of the works is an excellent detailed example of both the style and the theme that you chose. It is very interesting how they appear different to the naked eye versus photograph. I am very interested to see where this particular form of art goes forward into the future.
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These Optical illusions are so fun! i think you explained what they are beautifully. Its interesting to think that all the techology we have you that these types of paintings are really not that old. You deffenitley have to have an eye and skill to make these paintings work though. the ones you picked are fun and you cant help but to look at them again to figure out what is going on in them.
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Lane, The Crevasse is an especially exciting piece, the falling ice chunks really do give a sense of movement. It would be so cool to see one of these in person. Making them permanent in certain places would be a great way to include more art in our daily lives. The fact that they can use line, value and contrast to make images that feel completely three dimensional is incredible. It is interesting how many Italian renaissance themes can be seen in Kurt Wenner’s other works. It might be a result of him living in Italy for a long time. Wenner also has the world record for largest solo piece of chalk art which was commissioned by GreenPeace.
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Hi Lane,
First off, I love that you chose the optical illusion street-art as your topic. This was a fun blog to read and I have to say there is not one piece that I have anything negative to say about. Each of these artists does a fantastic job of creating different shades of color to make the scene appear to have a depth to them. I did not know there were different depth effects like the macropsia technique that Wenner uses. His work, “The Tower” shows that effect very well with the way he places balloons and kites at the top of the buildings, making it seem like you are at a very high level. “The Crevasse” would be my favorite by Edgar Mueller, I am just at awe looking at this image! It is beautiful and so realistic.
Thank you for your post!
Jessica
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I love the pieces you chose! I like that I got a variety of artwork and art pieces to look at. It made it that much more enjoyable! Optical illusion art is so fascinating because it is so amazing how easy it is to trick the eyes! I remember walking into a museum full of optical illusion art and it was so freaky! I really love the last piece you have shown us. That is so outstanding! The color, the detail, the shading, everything is so realistic and makes you feel like you are looking at a photograph. I think you did a great job at introducing your topic to us and keep the theme throughout your post! It was so cool that you chose this type of artwork and shared it with us!
Great Job!
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The first thing I would like to know is how much chalk did they use? Or did they even use chalk? Either way all of these are endlessly impressive. “Tribute to Mt. Fuji” made my jaw drop a little when I scrolled down enough to see it all, it reminds me a lot of Journey to Center of the Earth and is stunningly beautiful. I really admire all the artists’ skill in making these look three dimensional, it is not like looking at a canvas in front of you, they likely had to factor in some math to get the image visible from such a unique angle. Very cool post, thank you!
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