Another day, another optical illusion. With the sheer amount of the things we've seen go wild online over the last few months, the articles practically write themselves these days. But every now and then we see something truly mind-boggling – and this paint-based illusion is exactly that.
Currently going wild on Reddit what looks like an image of an abandoned monochrome warehouse, with a splash of colour digitally overlaid in the middle. But it turns out there's no Photoshop trickery going on here – that square of colour is really there. Like all the best optical illusions, I can't quite accept that it's real.
The walls have been painted in such a way that, when viewed from exactly the right angle, the 3D surfaces flatten into a perfect square of colour. It's the work of Georges Rousse a Paris-based artist whose spectacular trompe l’oeil often transform deserted spaces into dynamic artworks.
"A physical space made to emulate the digital, for digital consumption! This is an amazing example of reification," one user comments, while another adds, "this is exactly why I love Reddit." And as many users have pointed out, while it looks incredible from the exact right angle, it would be pretty interesting to see it from literally any other position.
Another similar illusion from Rousse (Image credit: Georges Rousse)
Daniel John is Senior News Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of art, design, branding and lifestyle tech (which often translates to tech made by Apple). He joined in 2020 after working in copywriting and digital marketing with brands including ITV, NBC, Channel 4 and more.
