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Reconstructing Deception: Sung Pil Han Takes On Trompe L’oeil

This man’s meta-photographs are illuminated architectural illusions.

Metamorphosis (2011): backlit pigment print on LED lightbox, mixed media. 120 × 150 cm.

Dimly-lit at dusk, the building before you flickers with a gentle glow. You blink once, then twice, at the dizzying layers of distorted architecture, realizing this meta-photograph is in fact two-dimensional. Metamorphosis is just one example of Sung Pil Han's contemporary take on trompe l'oeil, a French phrase that translates to “deceive the eye.”

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A technique founded on the application of very realistic imagery to evoke an optical illusion of three-dimensionality, Han contemporizes the long practiced tradition of trompe l'oeil by printing large-format 2D images of cityscapes and layering them into superimposed illusions with unforeseen depth and distinction. By taking advantage of the natural light during dawn and dusk, then adding artificial lighting like an LED lightbox, the mixed media artist seamlessly conveys a façade of the real, allowing an integrated intimacy with his architectural subjects.

Check out more of Han's heightened optical illusions below. Or better yet, visit his Dual Realities series on exhibition now at Arario Gallery in Seoul.

Parking Lots (2010): chromogenic print. 70 × 200 cm.

Duplication (2010): chromogenic print. 124 × 162 cm.

Mirage (2010): trans print, light box, half mirror. 115 × 174 cm.

Photos courtesy of Arario Gallery.