‘it’s sidewalk chalk – no foolin’

I don’t know about you, but when I think of sidewalk chalk… rainbows and hopscotch come to mind.  But Julian Beever takes it to a completely other level with his amazing works of art.

Julian is an English artist who has been creating chalk drawings on pavement since the mid-1990s that create the illusion of three dimensions when viewed from the right location. These trompe-l’oeil drawings are created using a projection called anamorphosis and appear to defy the laws of perspective.

Above are two photos are of the same chalk drawing. The brain works out our 3D experience of the world from the 2D light patterns that fall onto our retina at the back of the eye.

This process takes advantage of many of our implicit assumptions of the world, such as the fact that textures will fade as they go farther away, parallel lines will tend to converge in the distance and that objects will seem larger the closer they are.

Julian Beever’s art uses a knowledge of these processes, so when seen from a certain angle, the pictures fool the visual system’s inbuilt processes to produce a false sense of depth.

When seen from an alternative angle, the illusion breaks-down, and it’s possible to see how the artwork was created.

This is my favorite image. It makes my jaw drop and heart cringe knowing that each masterpiece will be washed away with a rainy afternoon.

Want to see more?  Just click play to see a slide show of his breathtaking works.

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