Julian Beever is known all over the world for his pavement drawings,
more especially his 3D illusions, drawn in a special distortion to create an impression of 3D when seen from one particular viewpoint. Julian Beever (born c. 1959) is a British chalk artist who has been creating trompe-l’œil chalk drawings on pavement surfaces since the mid-1990s.
He uses a projection technique called anamorphosis to create the illusion of three dimensions when viewed from the correct angle. It is often possible to position a person within the image as if they were interacting with the scene.
“I got started when I was in a pedestrian street in Brussels where an old garden had been removed. This left an unusual rectangle of paving slabs which gave me the idea to convert this in to a drawn swimming pool in the middle of the high street! It worked so well I tried other variations such as a well with people falling in. I soon realized that if you could make things appear to go into the pavement you could equally make them appear to stand out of it.” says Beever.
