People have used wallpaper to decorate their walls forever. One clever way to make a small space memorable (and perhaps shocking the first time someone enters the room) is to utilize a wallpaper mural. In the example below, a mural has been placed on the back wall of a bathroom. It makes it appear as […]

John Pugh designs very large trompe l’oeil optical illusion murals and he is doing exactly what he wants to be doing. I have found that the “language” of life-size illusions allow me to communicate with a very large audience. It seems almost universal that people take delight in being visually tricked. Once captivated by the […]

In 1978, artist Blue Sky painted a trompe l’oeil mural on the side of the Flint Journal Building in Flint, Michigan.   The mural, aptly titled “Overflow Parking”, measures 60 by 70 feet in size. The deceptive mural is still there and can be found at 200 E. First Street in Flint, Michigan.  You can even […]

In 2012, Marlin Peterson created a large trompe l-oeil mural on the roof of a building in Seattle, Washington.  When viewed from a high vantage point, it appears that a pair of extremely large daddy long legs spiders are sunning themselves on top of the building.  The mural was designed to be viewed by visitors […]

The title of this realistic wall mural located on Main Street in Los Gatos, California is Siete Punto Uno (or seven point one).  The title is a reference to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that caused significant damage throughout the community of Los Gatos.   The quake reached a surface-wave magnitude of 7.1 on the Richter […]

John Pugh is an American artist known for this large three-dimensional trompe l’oeil wall murals.  One of his most famous murals, titled Academe, was painted on a wall on the side of Alva P. Taylor Hall at Chico State University in California.  As a passerby, it appears that the wall of the building has crumbled […]