Chalk Drawing Illusionist
Posted on 31 May 2010 by LynThomas in Uncategorized
While there are other pavement artists, the 50 year old English artist, Julian Beever, also known as ‘Pavement Picasso’, is one of the most prominent.
His illusionary chalk drawings have been seen on the pavements of England, France, Germany, USA, Australia and Belgium. Beever gives his optical illusion drawings an incredible 3D illusion.
Beever has been doing pavement chalk drawings for over ten years. His works are created using a projection called anamorphosis and create the illusion of three dimensions when viewed from the correct angle. It is a modern example of trompe l’oeil – a French term that means literally ‘trick of the eye’.
Illusionary Chalk Drawings
Many of Beever’s drawings take a full day to complete. By the next day they are gone, through overnight dew and the many shoes of pedestrians. Beever’s art lives through the photographs that are taken at the time the drawing is completed.
Beever was originally a ‘Punch and Judy’ showman, before discovering his talent as a street artist in the 1980’s. He is now based in Belgium. He began his street drawing simply to fund his travels.
His earlier drawings were mainly portraits of well known personalities. They instantly grabbed the attention of the passers-by.
Beever says, “I soon realized that if you could make things appear to go into the pavement, you could equally make them appear to stand out of it”.
Born in Leicestershire, England, Beever attended Leeds University, where he studied Fine Art.
Chalk Drawings viewed from the wrong angle
When the chalk drawings are viewed from the wrong angle they are almost incomprehensible.
Illusionary chalk drawing
This is the same drawing, but when viewed from a particular angle it takes on a dimension all its own.
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[...] While there are some other pavement artists, Julian Beever, the 50 year old English artist, also known as ‘Pavement Picasso’, is one of the most well known and successful one day artist. See what one of his illusionary drawings looks if viewed from the wrong angle… [...]