The Illusion Chair

If you’re looking to take a seat, Masayuki Hayashi has you covered -provided you happen to approach his chair from the right side. If you approach from the left hand side, you’ll instead be left wondering “where’s this chair he promised me, and what’s up with all these weird black lines?”

That’s because the artist’s aptly named Black Line Chair is made from nothing but black metal rods arranged to look like a nothing but a series of lines when viewed from the right angle.

Of course, even if you can see the chair, I wouldn’t recommend sitting on it, not only would Masayuki not be very happy if you sat on his artwork, it also seems rather uncomfortable no matter how you look at it.

32 Replies to “The Illusion Chair”

    1. That is the real chair. If you look closely you can see slight shadows at the base of the chair. It looks like it is drawn because it is a black metal rod chair photographed in a blank white studio with ambient white light :P

    2. It IS the real chair. It’s just the contrast of the image wich gives you the oh-this-are-totally-not-metal-bars effect.

    3. Or, maybe this is the real chair…
      P.S. About your “name”, that series is pretty good…

    4. I am fairly certain that this IS the real chair – I can see shadow lines at the base. Black wire against a white background will look like a diagram when photographed. But regardless, this is an exquisite design! But is it comfortable?

    5. It is the real. It is a photo of it. That is why on the left the lines are only straight in the middle and take a bend at the top and bottom, because of the difference in perspective and the lines no longer having hte same two dimensional trajectory as compared to the camera lens. The only way they could better display it would be a gif that rotated around the chair.

    6. I think that is the real chair. I think the lighting is just bright to raise the contrast….

    7. This is the real chair. The unfortunate part is the all white background. See the gallery of pics. You can see the bars used on the closer views.

  1. I think it is mostly the physics that says “NO” when you want to sit on it. All the rods make a bow which is tilted under the same angle.

    Looking from the left, al the black lines would fall to the right and as viewer from the left it makes perfectly sense why the chair collapsed. From the right however, I think you are in for a optical treat, seeing that chair collapse. :)

  2. Awesome idea. But, as you say, a piece of art. I don’t think it would look the same after someone sat on it. It would become a poor illusion of a folding chair.

  3. the real illusion here is being able to tell if the pictures are actually the chairs or drawings?

    I Love This Site!!!

  4. Ive just been watching an old musical with Fred Astaire called Yolanda and the Thief. In a number called Coffee Time, Which you can find on YouTube, they have a wonderful optically illusory dance floor. You should look.

  5. Could we get a video of this chair rotating? (so that their is no doubt this is no drawing)

    I didn’t even understand what the illusion was supposed to be until I read the comments.

    Quite confusing Illusion today guys, someone must be slacking..:)

    Just messin’ guys, Kepp Up the GREAT Work!!!

  6. this illusion makes no sense whatsoever. Neither of them look like normal chairs. can anyone explain this to me? I don’t even know where to begin to simply describe how I don’t understand it.

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