Quad

Quad belongs to the same line of thought as Float, exploring the possibility of depth where no physical depth exists. It borrows from trompe l’oeil, but strips away the realism usually associated with the technique. There is no attempt to imitate architecture convincingly. Instead, colour alone is asked to create the illusion.

I have always been interested in the point where a flat pattern begins to suggest volume. A slight tonal shift can imply a raised edge, a recess or a shadow. Our eyes understand these signals instinctively. Once light and dark establish a direction, the surface starts to behave differently, even though nothing has physically changed.

Mosaic adds an interesting complication because its construction is so obviously flat and rational. Every tessera sits within the same grid, yet the colour relationships suggest another geometry occupying the surface. The eye sees both versions at once: the actual plane and the imagined depth.

That ambiguity is what interests me most about Quad. Trompe l’oeil traditionally tries to deceive the eye. Here, the deception is deliberately exposed. We know the shadows are simply colour, but our perception continues to read them as depth. The pleasure lies in that small disagreement between what we know and what we see.

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