Interiors from the mind : pictorial illusionism within painting

This project sets out to investigate spatial illusion within realist painting. Observations concerning speculative architectural constructs as a pictorial space provides the content for the project. This research develops visual strategies with the intention of enhancing the viewers' perceptual experience of an illusionary space. The aim of this project has been to push beyond traditions of illusory pictorial spaces that have informed the research. To extend those representations, a series of methodologies were developed that fuse both the virtual architectural space of digital imaging with the pictorial illusionism of painting that reflects the techniques formulated by early fifteenth century Flemish painters. The paintings are constructed from multiple digitally captured photographs of interior architecture, reconstructed into fictional spaces through digital manipulation. The spaces feature multiple entry/exit points that are ambiguous and devoid of human presence. Extraneous details are removed from the sourced imagery and the resulting spaces are vast, labyrinthine, artificially lit passageways. Central to the project is the duplicity apparent in mirrors and reflections. These are employed as devices to lead the viewer to speculate and contemplate the ambiguities within the painting. The outcome is a group of paintings submitted for examination; the exhibition contains the original discourse of the project. The exegesis chronicles the practical and conceptual inquiries, together with an exploration of the issues significant to the project, placed in context through discussions of historical and contemporary practice.