I’ve been thinking about those Magic Eye images that were so popular in the 90’s and the kind of vision that is required to see the hidden motifs within the patterns. It’s all about diverging one’s vision so that each eye sees separately. Our natural tendency is to allow the brain to converge this double vision into one unified picture. It took me to Cezanne who, interestingly, was painting at the time this optical research was taking place. His paintings seem to exemplify this distinctive vision, of a world seen from two slightly different angles. This is what makes his paintings seem like they are teetering on the edge of an abyss, objects and landscapes and people on the verge of falling, neither flat nor full of volume but both and neither at the same time.
It took me to my own preoccupation with the diptych and how I’m drawn to making images that disrupt the tendency of our eyes to settle in one direction. I like the idea that one can create an image where the cerebral and visual faculties are not subsumed into one another but rather, are in dialogue. Sometimes, the conversation between the two is conflicting, other times more harmonious.
Laura van Tatenhove 