MEETING - Wednesday 18 January 2012
Tom Errington - Trompe l'Oeil - the art of ilusion
Trompe l’oeil is the artistic ability to depict an object so exactly as to make it appear real. A heightened form of illusionism, the art of trompe l'oeil flourished from the Renaissance onward.
Up to the 14th century all art had two dimensional backgrounds. The discovery of perspective in fifteenth-century Italy and advancements in the science of optics in seventeenth-century Netherlands enabled artists to render objects and spaces with eye-fooling exactitude.
Both witty and serious, trompe l'oeil is a game that artists play with spectators to raise questions about the nature of art and perception.
This talk is firmly based on the practitioner’s experience and begins by considering what it is that makes the brain accept information provided by the eye – the messenger – and how it blindly has to come to an instant decision on whether a painting is really three dimensional or simply a flat representation. The parts that perspective, colour and tone play are discussed and illustrated with diagrams and examples from the fifteenth century through to the present.
The speaker was once fooled by his own painting, as he missed his footing while standing on a scaffold and reached out to grab a banister that was in fact an example of trompe l’oeil.
Tom Errington is a practising artist and designer, specialising in Trompe L'Oeil paintings and murals. He is Art, Art History, and Stained Glass Adviser to the Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham and Stained Glass Adviser to the Diocese of Coventry. Formerly a lecturer at The Central School of Speech and Drama in London, Tom has worked in theatre on the technical side - having been Production Manager at Nottingham Playhouse - and Producer/Director of Independent Films.