TROMPE-L'ŒIL

Acrylic on canvas, 16 x 12 IN.

Trompe-l'œil is a French art term which literally translates as “deceives the eye”. One uses this term to describe a 2D visual work that has such a veristic optical illusion that it seems to have a 3D quality to the viewer, gives the impression the subject is, in fact, real. One may ask, with that definition, “What the heck does that term have to do with this piece?”

We live in a dynamic, glowing and color exploding world. It’s not enough to to go see a show, we need the immersive experience. It’s not enough to go to a museum, the museums have become interactive, we walk through the art and arguably become an aspect of it. It’s not enough to get lost in the clouds, we have to take pictures to prove our witness. Virtual reality has become our reality. If we aren’t participating in this hyper reality, are we really alive in this modern world?

The ladder serves as a verb. It’s one of the few objects one sees that immediately activates us into its function. Are we to imagine ourselves going up into a cloud or coming down from one? Or is the static space amid the vibrant colors framing it representative of the moment of peace we all need to be above the dynamic static dominating today’s world?

So with these questions in mind, “Trompe-l'œil” (the painting and any painting) has become more real than our modern reality… hence, the name. "Ceci n'est pas une pipe,” n’est pas?