The Art of Jonty Hurwitz & Yifat Davidoff

    The Art of Jonty Hurwitz & Yifat Davidoff

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    Anamorphic Sculpture

    Also: Anamorphosis, Perspective sculpture, Optical illusion sculpture, Viewpoint-specific sculpture, Distorted sculpture, Anamorphic art

    Anamorphic sculpture is a three-dimensional work that looks abstract from most angles and resolves into a recognisable image only from one exact viewpoint or in a mirror.

    Definition

    Sculpture engineered so that its form reads as abstract or distorted from most positions and resolves into a coherent image from a single viewpoint or via a reflective surface.

    Discussion

    Anamorphic sculpture is a three-dimensional artwork engineered so that its form looks distorted or abstract from almost every position and resolves into a coherent, recognisable image only from one exact viewpoint, or when reflected in a polished mirror. It extends anamorphosis, a five-hundred-year-old drawing technique, out of the flat picture plane and into physical space. Making one is an engineering problem as much as an artistic one. The artist first fixes the vantage point and the optics, then works backwards, calculating where every fragment of material must sit so that, from that one line of sight, the fragments align into the intended figure. Move a few degrees and the illusion collapses back into apparent chaos. For Jonty Hurwitz this is a primary mode of expression. His anamorphic sculptures, many resolved through a cylindrical mirror at their centre, have been exhibited solo at science museums across six continents, and use the viewer's own act of searching for the resolving viewpoint as part of the work's meaning.

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    Anamorphic Sculpture

    Anamorphic sculpture is a three-dimensional work that looks abstract from most angles and resolves into a recognisable image only from one exact viewpoint…

    Sculpture engineered so that its form reads as abstract or distorted from most positions and resolves into a coherent image from a single viewpoint or via a reflective surface.

    Anamorphic sculpture is a three dimensional artwork engineered so that its form looks distorted or abstract from almost every position and resolves into a coherent, recognisable image only from one exact viewpoint, or when reflected in a polished mirror.

    It extends anamorphosis, a five hundred year old drawing technique, out of the flat picture plane and into physical space.

    Making one is an engineering problem as much as an artistic one.

    The artist first fixes the vantage point and the optics, then works backwards, calculating where every fragment of material must sit so that, from that one line of sight, the fragments align into the intended figure.

    Move a few degrees and the illusion collapses back into apparent chaos.

    For Jonty Hurwitz this is a primary mode of expression.

    His anamorphic sculptures, many resolved through a cylindrical mirror at their centre, have been exhibited solo at science museums across six continents, and use the viewer's own act of searching for the resolving viewpoint as part of the work's meaning.