The Travel into the Picture

What is going to the art museum to you? Seeing the pictures with silence? Or thinking of the meanings of the pictures differently? There is the new art museum. Maybe, it is not the museum, but it is the place to PLAY with the pictures. Welcome to the many surprising pictures world which makes people be the protagonist in the picture which has been enjoyed by their eyes!

To the Wonderland of Trompe l'oeil

This place was hiding in the back street of Hongik University which was filled with pubs and restaurants as a trick. Like Ellis, walking down the stairs, one man who stuck out from the wall welcomed people. And then there was the stairway to heaven. As soon as I climbed up the stairs, I realized a picture on the wall. How amazing! It was not the end. There was the enormous Pocari Sweat which popped up from the floor. However, it was also a picture. This is the Trompe l’oeil museum that made people surprised at the pictures which were drawn with close observation and detailed description so people couldn’t distinguish between real and pictures. Trompe l’oeil means trickery in French, which was made in Baroque.

Following the Trompe l'oeil History
In the next section, I could meet the picture with beautiful flowers but it was hidden by curtains in front of the picture. Going near it, I realized even the curtain was a picture, too. This picture had the interesting story which became the origin of Trompe l'oeil. In the fifth century B.C., there were the drawing battle between Zeuxis and Parrhasios. Zeuxis was good at drawing grapes, so the birds gathered around the picture because they mistook the picture for the real grapes. His rival, Parrhasios was good at drawing flowers. One day, Zeuxis wanted to see Parrhasios’ picture secretly and he tried to draw aside the curtain. As soon as he touched the curtain, he realized it was a picture, so Zeuxis appreciated Parrhasios as his true worth. There was a lot of pictures which could make people see the history of Trompe l’oeil from Parrhasios’ picture to modern art with a realistic description.

Painting?
Hold Your Sides with Laughter!

There were the pictures which I have seen somewhere. However they were a little different with the

pictures in my mind and besides, strangely, they came to life. Medusa’s head came out from the frame. The David of Michelangelo became fat and he gave the message “If you don’t move, you will be fat.” Like this, there are the famous pictures from great commanders such as Michelangelo, Raffaello, Picasso, Renoir and Gogh from the Renaissance to cubism. The pictures had attractive secrets which were appeared if I moved up and down or side to side. The pictures sometimes hid other pictures in them. People forgot the manner and they ran around the museum. People didn’t think the serious meaning of the pictures any more. All of the people in the museum enjoyed the pictures.

Teleport to the Other World
Around the corner, I was in the beautiful street of Venezia as if I teleported. On the other side, money poured out from the truck like rain. Also, there was the car with a number of balloons and two wings on the wall which would fly at any moment. The dream world like this also was done by Trompe l'oeil. I was not a spectator anymore, and I became the protagonist of the Trompe l’oeil world.

Benvenuto Cellini said, “Art is trickery.” Art reflects the real, but the methods to express it are trickery. Trompe l’oeil maximizes the trickery which the art has. Spectators and artists find enjoyment actively between the trickery and the true in Trompe l’oeil. And If spectators find the trickery, they find bigger enjoyment. Maybe it is the most charming point of Trompe l’oeil that the trickery of Trompe l’oeil is catchable. However If you want to go to the Trompe l'oeil museum, forget all the story of mine. You don’t need to try to find the trickery. Just enjoy Trompe l’oeil as it is. It must be the best way to enjoy Trompe l’oeil.

Ahn Park Dabom