New Exhibition Explores the Timeless Tradition of “Trompe l’Oeil”

"Fool Me Twice" at Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, S.C., through May 25, 2025

George Ayers, “Swamp Frog,” oil on panel

Much like a puzzle, an illusion demands patience. But it also rewards that endurance, offering, in return, a complete story from its singular and sometimes baffling parts. Fool Me Twice, a new exhibition staged at Robert Lange Studios (RLS), sets up such an agreement: visitors may initially be perplexed by these visual tricks, but those determined enough will decipher them—and to great satisfaction.

Encompassing 20 artists from around the world, Fool Me Twice celebrates the artistic tradition of trompe l’oeil, often translated as “deceive the eye” in English. As its name suggests, the technique relies heavily upon illusion, blurring the boundaries between reality and representation. These artists seem to ask What do we believe to be real? and How confident are we in defending those beliefs?

If the paintings in Fool Me Twice are any indication, we should be wary and perhaps even suspicious of what we encounter. George Ayers, for instance, beckons viewers toward Swamp Frog, in which a hyperrealistic frog seems to be breaking through the surface of the canvas. His Wall Tart composition, on the other hand, mimics a decadent slice of cake tearing through a plaster wall.

“I wanted to create something that makes people question the limits of the painting itself,” Ayers said in a statement. “The frog isn’t just painted on the surface—he’s breaking through it, challenging what’s real and what’s illusion.”

Sharon Moody’s The Year of Great Shocks achieves a similar effect, showcasing a comic book splayed out to reveal a spread in which New York City is swamped with water. The pages appear so weathered, so delicately thin, that it feels almost impossible to resist the urge to flip through the book, exploring what other shocks it contains. But resist the urge we must—the comic book is, in fact, meticulously painted onto a canvas.

Other works in Fool Me Twice pay homage to the early pioneers of the genre. Lange, who owns RLS but is also a realist painter, contributes Illusions Within, featuring an iPhone whose background is René Magritte’s The Son of Man. During his lifetime, Magritte was renowned for his surreal, illusory style, one that can be succinctly described through his iconic painting The Treachery of Images.

To echo Magritte, is a painting of a pipe really a pipe? Fool Me Twice doesn’t propose an answer, but it does exemplify the joys of posing such a question in the first place. The exhibition’s artworks are certainly rigorous in their technical accomplishments, but it’s their insistence on wonder and mystery that truly set them apart.

Fool Me Twice is currently on view at Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, S.C., through May 25, 2025.