Mighty Optical Illusions » Xavier Kreiss

Closer Than You Think…

Vurdlak — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:03:27 +0000

What surprised me the most while staying in NYC, is how liberal people behave there. It’s probably the only place where you can see a heavily bearded/mustached man wearing a skirt, top and female boots – while nobody even blinks! Another thing that surprised me was how normal it is for people there to drive their pets in a stroller. Is it that others just don’t care, have too much of their own problems, or simply encounter these kind of oddities daily? I would need much more than 10 days to figure that out… Perhaps some New Yorker will give us a clue.

While we’re in the Moon illusion atmosphere (or even better – lack of it), Xavier Kreiss sent me another related one. This is what Xavier wrote: “It’s been a long time since I last contacted you! Your blog is as fascinating as it always was. This evening I was looking at some French blog, when I saw this photo of a plane going behind the moon. Of course, the illusion is due to the fact that the vapor trail, which is white, can’t be seen when it goes past the moon, which is also white – so you get the impression that the vapor is behind it. I thought it might amuse you!”

Could this plane really have passed behind the Moon?

Melting Spot Illusion

Vurdlak — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 00:25:00 +0000

Xavier Kreiss pointed me to this interesting photograph that shows a building that is supposedly melting right now. It looks darn hot over there! Offcourse it’s just an illusion, as you expect it to be, but here are more details Xavier shared with us: “Global warming has struck Paris first! Buildings have started melting! OK, I’m kidding (and believe me it’s not hot in Paris at all at the moment)! All of these windows and balconies are totally fake. They are painted on a huge cover that hides work at the Bleecker Group building on Avenue Georges V. Something similar to this illusion.”

Paris Mural

Vurdlak — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 23:43:00 +0000

“London-based Frenchman” Xavier Kreiss sent me this after/before photo of a Paris building mural. When you see the first photo, you probably won’t notice anything strange with it. Now when you jumped inside, and saw second photo… Bam! It hits you. Can you believe this whole building was almost-flat wall before artistic painting? Really awesome! Dozens of other cool murals like this one can be found if you browse murals category. Murals like this one, are called Trompe L’Oeil (French for “fool the eye”), and are in tight connection with 3D paintings that appear all over this site!