Visual Rules

As art students, a mastery of the rules presented in How We Create What We See are, though it most likely goes unnoticed, part of our daily repertoire. A knowledge of visual interpretation and comprehension is necessary so it can be utilized in reverse to create depth, perspective, and realism in a two-dimensional surface and be reinterpreted back by the viewer as a three-dimensional entity. It is impossible to control and manipulate that which is not understood, so artists intending to represent something realistically must innately know all of these issues, as most likely the knowledge of such rules is not conscious, but underlying. What I think is most interesting is whether or not a realist has a grasp on these rules to a further extent than those lacking the ability to two dimensionally represent three dimensionality affectively.

Artistic masters without a doubt possess innately all of these rules, and street artist, Kurt Wenner, translates them in a fun, contemporary manner, manipulating traditional concepts of depth to create an extreme feeling of depth on a flat surface.

These are some examples which show the chalk artist's amazing use of manipulation and mastery of depth, as from all angles these depictions must be equally convincing. The woman appears to be sitting on a couch, and while there are other non realistic elements, such as the stopped motion, without further examination the scene looks quite real, if not at least confusing. While at first glance in the second image too, it seems the butterfly truly is a butterfly in flight, the dimension highlighted by the soft shadow.