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”.

Even the texture of an object can influence the color shades. For instance, both the beer and the egg yolk have exactly the same orange hue and shaded tones. However, our brain assumes that the glass and the drink are translucent thus the colors appear lighter or duller, while the colors of the yolk of the fried egg seem more consistent and darker.

Test the subjectivity of color vision

Self-Moving Optical Illusion

Flying Black Bat
A new optic design for my “Super Optical Illusion” book project...

Kinoptic designs are optical illusions in which a static image appears to be moving due to the cognitive effects of interacting color contrasts and shape position. The essence of Kinoptic Art is actually to play with our optic nerves, to surprise and create the illusion of colors, dimensions or motion. Op Artist uses a palette of elements like blank spaces, XOR spaces, interspaces, interferences, space tiling and geometric patterns. Precision is also important in my creative processes: a small change in an Kinoptic Art picture can strongly modify or negate a visual effect.

The bat in the picture below seems to flutter, move and/or expand. Moreover, when you stare for a while at it and close your eyes you will see a white bat!

Illusory Motion Optical Illusion by G. Sarcone

You can see more samples of my kinetic optical art here:
http://www.smithsonian.com/sarcone
http://illusion.scene360.com/art/49666/qa-with-op-artist-still-images-that-move/

Reality Vs Illusion

What’s real? What’s not? Reality is strange—and seeing isn’t believing. When you look at an optical illusion, your brain tries to fool your eyes and what you expect to find on the page isn’t what’s there.

Apart from being both endlessly fascinating and awe-inspiring visually, the illusions contained in my new book "Go!Games Optical Illusions" also force viewers to go outside their comfort zones, challenge the nature of perception, and think creatively. Their minds have to work overtime to become more flexible. That’s what makes these 240 puzzles, ranging from simple scintillation effects to impossible staircases and concealed creatures, so absolutely addictive.

See how Santa "measures up" to his helper; the scale doesn’t seem to be telling the truth! Compare two lines: one seems longer, but can’t that really be true? Look at a triangular sculpture and figure out if it’s "impossible." Move a picture from side to side and watch it spin. Try to "remove" a magic glass from the plate, count the number of "F"s in a line (but only read it once!), and locate the main subject in the masterpiece "Las Meninas," painted by the artist Diego Velazquez.

This collection of illusions will enable you to experience the impossible and marvel at the miraculous. Enjoy!

Yours,
Gianni A. Sarcone
Artist and Researcher in the field of visual perception

My book is available from:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

 

Ambigram-signatures

On request of my publisher, I've designed an "ambigram"-signature to be featured in my books. Do you like it?
More info on ambigrams: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambigram
My books on Amazon:
http://www.goo.gl/kPehm

Power of Love - Figure/Grond Ambigram

Ambigrams are graphic words or sentences that can be read in more than one way.

An ambigram may be defined as an “amphibian” word (or group of words) occupying at the same time two different reading planes of a page. The distinctive feature of an ambigram is that it remains unchanged even when inverted, or reveals the coexistence of a second word when either the page is reoriented (by rotations or reflections) or when you simply change your vantage point.

Types of Ambigrams:

Rotational
The most common type is the rotational ambigram. That is a word or phrase written in such a way that it appears identical or completely different when it is read upside-down.

Reflection
Also known as bilateral or mirror-image symmetry, this refers to words that can be read normally before and after reflection in a mirror.

Figure/Ground
Any ambigram where both the positive (figure) and negative (ground) space read as words.

More information
www.archimedes-lab.org/ambigrams.html
Ambigrams on my Behance gallery

G. Sarcone

Power of Love

Power of Love - Figure/Grond Ambigram

Ambigrams are graphic words or sentences that can be read in more than one way.

An ambigram may be defined as an “amphibian” word (or group of words) occupying at the same time two different reading planes of a page. The distinctive feature of an ambigram is that it remains unchanged even when inverted, or reveals the coexistence of a second word when either the page is reoriented (by rotations or reflections) or when you simply change your vantage point.

Types of Ambigrams:

Rotational
The most common type is the rotational ambigram. That is a word or phrase written in such a way that it appears identical or completely different when it is read upside-down.

Reflection
Also known as bilateral or mirror-image symmetry, this refers to words that can be read normally before and after reflection in a mirror.

Figure/Ground
Any ambigram where both the positive (figure) and negative (ground) space read as words.

More information
www.archimedes-lab.org/ambigrams.html
Ambigrams on my Behance gallery

G. Sarcone

The visual art of concealing (1)
“Steganography” is the art and science of hiding a secret message within a larger one, in such a way that no one suspects its presence. The Swiss banknotes offer some interesting examples of steganography. In the picture below you can see the back of a Swiss ten-franc bill. The small part surrounded by the blue square contains a microtext, if we strongly enlarge it we may read a short bio of the Swiss architect Le Corbusier both in German and in Romansch:

Le Corbusier hat als Architekt Urbanist maler und Theoretiker Bahnbrechende und Visionäre Anwendungen für den Wohn- und Städtebau verwirklicht...