So I'm strolling through the streets of Vail, passing by very hoity-toity apparel boutiques, chi-chi restaurants and jewelry stores that would humble Fort Knox, when I see the above work of art under the glare of the halogen spotlights on the back wall of one of the town's most prestigious art galleries.
"Hmmmph...talk about vanity projects," I sneer to myself. "Some zillionaire is paying off the gallery to show off crayon scribbles and construction-paper cut-outs from his grandchildren."
But as an aficionado (a classier word for "fan," I guess) of wild contemporary art, I am intrigued, and pop into Vail Village Arts to check it out.
You guessed it.
Pow! Big time.
The work is actually an acrylic painting by Seattle's Bill Braun (at 51 years of age, slightly older than a pre-schooler). And despite the pronounced crinkled paper, shadows, plastic DymoLabels and protruding staples...the canvas is flat.
Flat as a pancake after being run over by a steamroller.
Twice.
Braun's means of expression--called Trompe L'Oeil (literally "fooling the eye")--is an art world classic, practiced by painters of renown like William Harnett, Rene Magritte and John Peto. But their subjects tend to be of more classically traditional imagery, like still lifes, musical instruments, religious icons and architectural renderings. Paper flowers and thumbtacks were out of their comfort zone, one supposes.
And that's what makes Bill Braun's stuff so special--the delight-heartedness he brings to the form. The dichotomy of painstaking craft and innocent whimsy makes for a truly Surprising work of art; one you can't stop staring at...even long after you know the "secret" behind it. It ain't just hype when his bio says: "These are not only paintings, they are entertainment."
And if you think the effect is remarkable in this blog's lil' snapshot, you should see it in all it's two-by-three-foot glory. So lifelike is the 3D effect that the gallery's owner, John Vickers, has installed a sign near Braun's display imploring visitors to "Take another look, but refrain from touching."
Now, if I could only refrain from touching my Amex Card...
(By the way art lovahs, if you get off on Bill's work, check out John Pugh and Dominique Gaucher, two other practitioners of playing with your head via their canvases.)