Julian Beever, master of perspective

If you’ve never seen this work, you’re in for a surprise, a shock, and more than likely a great feeling of inadequacy! This is one of the “real” artists that make me feel like I’m no more than a child playing at finger-painting. But there will always be somebody who can do it better, whatever it is you do. All you can do is admire the work, be amazed, and thank the Lord that they exist to awe and inspire us. The vast majority of us will never reach this level, we just do the best we can.

Then take into consideration the fact that he works with such an usual medium; sidewalks and pavements…. He works primarily in Europe, and somehow manages to distort his drawings in such a way as to give them an absolutely unbelievable three dimensional effect when viewed from a certain angle.

He also does murals and traditional fine art paintings, but the “sidewalk art” is my favorite. He is an English artist who has been creating his pavement creations since the mid-1990s. Beever uses a technique called trompe l’oeil, French for “trick the eye”, and you absolutely cannot believe how well he does it. Take this for an example, if you can manage to wrap your mind around it… Now, keep in mind that what you are seeing right now is total optical illusion, created by the artist. There is nothing but the pavement in front of him (he’s the guy in the photo); no ledge, no Batman or Robin, no crowd, no burning building, just his art. Can you see where it begins? Look closely and with any luck you may be able to discern where the pavement leaves off and the drawing begins. Can you see the lines of the pavement in the drawing? Can you even believe that this guy can actually pull this off? I’ve looked at his work dozens of times and I remain in awe. And the real kicker is, that sometimes by the day after he’s finished a drawing, they’re often gone, erased by the feet of passing pedestrians. His work survives through photographs. What I would like to know is , who could actually walk over something like that?

Well, it wouldn’t be fair to just leave you with the one example of his work; let’s look at some more: Remember, all of these are drawings done on flat pavement, using “trompe l’oeil”, tricking the eye.

There are many more. I have only scratched the surface.