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Artist Hand-Draws 3D Optical Illusions on Walls That Play With Depth and Perspective

By Emma Taggart on July 17, 2018

Los Angeles-based artist Katy Ann Gilmore combines art and mathematics to transform ordinary, flat surfaces into incredible three-dimensional illusions. At first glance, her intricate work looks digitally rendered; however, Gilmore meticulously hand-draws each detail using pens and markers. Whether it’s a giant mural or a smaller work on paper, each line drawing appears to leap from her chosen canvas.

Gilmore earned a BA in Mathematics, Art, and Spanish from Greenville College, Illinois and an MFA in Visual Art from Azusa Pacific University, California. The artist’s interdisciplinary background has led to a unique and highly methodological approach to making art. Her works are often planned or inspired by mathematical formulae, graphs, and equations, resulting in extraordinary shapes and patterns that play with perspective. Gilmore explains, “I'm currently influenced heavily by topography and the relationship between 2D, perpendicular planes, and their distortions into 3D space.”

Mainly working in black and white, Gilmore uses a combination of straight and curved lines. Straight lines are cleverly drawn with sharp angles to create the illusion of three-dimensional space, while curved lines are used to display dips and peaks, just like contour lines on a topographic map. In other works, Gilmore draws tightly-spaced, elongated lines that look like multiple loops of thread, hanging loose from a woven piece of fabric. Other pieces are rendered in hundreds of hand-drawn triangles, resulting in net-like meshes that cover intriguing 3D shapes.

You can see more of Gilmore’s incredible work on her website.