A real-life Mary Poppins

Meet Julian Beever.  He can make things come to life magically from the sidewalk.

You think I’m kidding?  I’m not.  He really can.  It may not be “magic” in its purest sense of the word, but the sidewalk art that he sculpts becomes a magical illusion that really can boggle your mind.

All of these works of art are created with chalk and a camera.  Beever sets up a camera at a specific spot on the sidewalk, which he uses as his reference point.  As he draws his art on the sidewalk, he walks back and forth from his work to the camera, looking through the viewfinder to see if his perspective is turning out correctly.  Looked at from any other angle that is not face-on, the drawing does look skewed.  But if seen from the exact angle for which it was created, the viewer gets a surprising 3-D shock.

Beever goes around the world making these 3-D creations and offering delightful surprises for those lucky enough to encounter them.  Has anyone of you seen them?  Or do you know of any other works by other artists that is equally innovative and inspiring on the street?

Gabby Park

A triple concentrator in Communication Studies, French, and History of Art, who loves to eat and ballroom dance.

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