When I first saw imagery of the work of swiss artist Felice Varini, I thought they were images that someone had drawn shapes overtop of with some sort of computer program. The stark colors with their slight look of transparency seemed unusual and I wasn’t sure of why someone would choose to draw such simple shapes over images of interior and exterior spaces. And then I realized it wasn’t drawn on the photo, but the actual space itself. Suddenly everything was different.

Varini has been making his unique style of art since the late 70’s that focuses in on the relationship between the viewer and the art, not just the space the art inhabits. His lines appear to be floating within the spaces, suspended but semi-transparent.

It’s interesting to see not only the warping of the lines to achieve the right perspective but also that he has to take into consideration the objects within the space and how they should interact with the lines.

The image at the very top of this post is also interesting to see when viewed from other angles other than the “right” one. The lines run horizontally and vertically, across the face of the building, over windows and curving faces. I would imagine this was quite a challenge due to the organic nature of some of the pieces surrounding the building.

He even works with odd viewpoints like having his objects appear in a mirror within the space where the mirror becomes the viewer of the correct perspective.

images via Felice Varini

Another interesting piece was a circle seemingly hovering above and yet intersecting with a highway in Switzerland. This would certainly be an interesting find while driving through the mountainous country.

It would be interesting to witness the feeling of surprise upon seeing the circle and then observing the distortion while driving closer and understanding just how the piece was done. A very curious moment in auto observations indeed.

images via Felice Varini

While playing with perspective is not a new concept but rather one that artists have dealt with for centuries, there are always new ways of looking at it and warping it to fit the artists vision. This is certainly an interesting take on fitting a drawing of painted lines into the reality of space that I find intriguing. For many more amazing images of Felice Varini’s decades of work, visit his website.