Even a Little Paint Can Fool You
In the artwork above and on the previous spread, Felice Varini uses an anamorphic illusion — a visual distortion of space to confuse the viewer’s sense of what is 2D and 3D — to trick your eye. Were you fooled?
Sharpen your keen observation skills — just like Agent 711 of the Culper Spy Ring did to win the Revolutionary War.
When the war moved from Boston to New York, George Washington (Agent 711) needed more intelligence in order to keep a watchful eye on the British. He needed to get sneaky. Under his command, Major Benjamin Tallmadge recruited groups of soldiers and civilians to pass intricate messages regarding enemy activity in plain sight of British soldiers — by using the codes from the Culper Code Book or by hanging laundry a certain way or even by using invisible ink. These creative tactics prompted a defeated British officer to report, “Washington did not really outfight the British. He simply out-spied us.”
In the artwork above and on the previous spread, Felice Varini uses an anamorphic illusion — a visual distortion of space to confuse the viewer’s sense of what is 2D and 3D — to trick your eye. Were you fooled?