Humans are wired to see faces, even in inanimate objects. It’s called Pareidolia.
Pareidolia is the tendency for seeing faces in inanimate objects like the moon, clouds, ink blots, or abstract patterns. Pareidolia used to be considered a symptom of human psychosis, but it is now seen as a normal human tendency.
We are so drawn to see objects as if they are alive that if you are open to it, you can find a character in just about any ordinary object—even a rutabaga. So the pareidolia-accompanying art installation movement of putting googly eyes on objects can make some fun discovery moments. I like these Imperfect Produce pics. They cheer me up every time I see them.
Imperfect Produce pic
Artist Timm Schneider brings life to garbage cans, toilets, and poles in Weisbaden, Germany by applying eyes he made from styrofoam and ping-pong balls.
And Vanyu Krastev “eyebombs” Bulgaria with googlies:
There’s even an international foundation for putting googly eyes on things:
The Googly Eyes Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to spread googly eyes around the world. What do you think of this variety of civic art?
Today, for “Wild Card” Sunday, draw and/or install some googly eyes on things. They can be on photographs (paper or digital) or in real life. You won’t need high drawing skills to doodle out some googlies, but you will exercise your scavenger-hunt skills!
Have fun, and take good photographs. Make sure the object is in focus and has adequate light. Take a moment to crop it for attractive placement – you can use the rule of thirds, middle, or anything else that seems right for the scene. Post your photos so that we can find them with #30sal. Some additional tags you can use are:
Prizes and favorites for the first 10 days of the SAL Challenge will be posted soon. It is taking me some time to pick my favorites – there are so many to choose from! 685 is the Instagram #30sal count today. Fantastic!
In previous V. Notes, I’ve posted work by our sumi instructor Angie Dixon, Huang Yongyu, Pan Gongkai, and stuff you didn’t know about sumi. Today I wanted to broaden my view of sumi painting. I wanted to see more works that are being created in the medium today. With Google as my guide, I collected …
A strong relationship between the arts and politics, particularly between various kinds of art and power, occurs across historical epochs and cultures. As they respond to contemporaneous events and politics, the arts take on political as well as social dimensions, becoming themselves a focus of controversy and even a force of political as well as …
Yesterday I talked about trace monotypes: “Trace monotypes are made by laying paper down on an inked piece of plexiglass, then drawing a design on the back of the paper. The drawing tool presses the paper against the ink, making a dark line on the front of the paper.” – Ruthie V, circa yesterday Today …
Victorians combined images from multiple negatives to create portraits known as “Headless Photographs.” (19th century) Not one cracked a smile. If Victorians had Facebook, would they have posted this? Happy Halloween!
30SAL Challenge: Googly Eyes on Things
Humans are wired to see faces, even in inanimate objects. It’s called Pareidolia.
Pareidolia is the tendency for seeing faces in inanimate objects like the moon, clouds, ink blots, or abstract patterns. Pareidolia used to be considered a symptom of human psychosis, but it is now seen as a normal human tendency.
We are so drawn to see objects as if they are alive that if you are open to it, you can find a character in just about any ordinary object—even a rutabaga. So the pareidolia-accompanying art installation movement of putting googly eyes on objects can make some fun discovery moments. I like these Imperfect Produce pics. They cheer me up every time I see them.
Artist Timm Schneider brings life to garbage cans, toilets, and poles in Weisbaden, Germany by applying eyes he made from styrofoam and ping-pong balls.
And Vanyu Krastev “eyebombs” Bulgaria with googlies:
There’s even an international foundation for putting googly eyes on things:
The Googly Eyes Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to spread googly eyes around the world. What do you think of this variety of civic art?
Today, for “Wild Card” Sunday, draw and/or install some googly eyes on things. They can be on photographs (paper or digital) or in real life. You won’t need high drawing skills to doodle out some googlies, but you will exercise your scavenger-hunt skills!
Have fun, and take good photographs. Make sure the object is in focus and has adequate light. Take a moment to crop it for attractive placement – you can use the rule of thirds, middle, or anything else that seems right for the scene. Post your photos so that we can find them with #30sal. Some additional tags you can use are:
#30sal #seattleartistleague #googlyeyefoundation #googlyeyes #googlyeyesphoto #eyebombing #pareidolia #funnyart #cuteart #art #artchallenge #artist #artistsoninstagram #instaart #drawthisinyourstyle #artwork #drawingoftheday #dailydrawing #inkdrawing #drawingsketch #artoftheday #myart #creativity #creativechallenge
Prizes and favorites for the first 10 days of the SAL Challenge will be posted soon. It is taking me some time to pick my favorites – there are so many to choose from! 685 is the Instagram #30sal count today. Fantastic!
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In previous V. Notes, I’ve posted work by our sumi instructor Angie Dixon, Huang Yongyu, Pan Gongkai, and stuff you didn’t know about sumi. Today I wanted to broaden my view of sumi painting. I wanted to see more works that are being created in the medium today. With Google as my guide, I collected …
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Yesterday I talked about trace monotypes: “Trace monotypes are made by laying paper down on an inked piece of plexiglass, then drawing a design on the back of the paper. The drawing tool presses the paper against the ink, making a dark line on the front of the paper.” – Ruthie V, circa yesterday Today …
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Victorians combined images from multiple negatives to create portraits known as “Headless Photographs.” (19th century) Not one cracked a smile. If Victorians had Facebook, would they have posted this? Happy Halloween!