Christopher Madden

optical illusion

  • Contemporary art: mirrors + multiple reflections = optical illusions.

    contemporary art mirrors and multiple reflections illusion

    Reflections and illusions.

    Mirrors, fluorescent cord. 2017

    An example of one of my contemporary art projects exploring mirrors, reflections and illusions, here using a piece of cord that is reflected multiple times to give the impression of a closed circle.

    This work consists of three mirrors arranged as a triangular box with the reflective surfaces facing inwards. The box is placed over a length of brightly coloured meandering paracord. The cord is laid so that the section that lies inside the triangular box is reflected on the box’s sides to give the illusion of forming a circle. The second photo shows the work from a different angle to show the structure.

    mirrors and optical illusions in contemporary art
    mirrors and optical illusion in contemporary art

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  • Reflection in a mirror creating colour discontinuity

    contemporary art - a mirror reflection creating optical illusion

    Colour Discontinuity 1. Coloured rods reflected in a mirror

    Mirror, wooden rods, acrylic paint. July 2015

    A coloured rod reflected in a mirror so that the reflection in the mirror coincides with a differently coloured rod on the other side of the mirror, creating a form of ambiguous optical illusion.

    A study in perception, illusion and the interpretation of ambiguous visual stimuli.
    I’ve been interested in mirrors and reflections since I was a teenager in the late 1960s. My first mirror based work was done at that time. It started a science based endeavour rather than an artistic one – involving the construction of an astronomical telescope, including the grinding of its primary parabolic mirror.

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