Optical Illusion of The Day: Dr.d’s Lenticular Vision of England

Posted: 21 Feb 2012 04:53 AM PST

Lenticular graffiti takes a special hand in that the artist cannot just select any old surface to apply this type of artwork. Instead, he or she must scout around, looking for a location that happens to be suitable for this specific type of poster application. That’s why lenticular illusions are much more common to be found in the UK than practically anywhere else – it’s just that they have by far most shutters and latticed sidings than other countries do.

To that end, English artist dr. d is one of the premiere artists when it comes to lenticular graffiti. Here is one of his artworks critiquing the country’s prison system (for those unaware, H.M.P. stands for “Her Majesty’s Prison). First see how they work when viewed straight on:

But see what happens when you walk down the street, approaching the artwork from opposite directions. The message completely transforms!

While some people critique this type of art as it doesn’t involve directly painting on the artist’s selected street canvas, the reality is that it still takes quite a bit of talent to create these works on a computer. Not to mention a whole lot necessary to print them out and apply outdoors, so the illusion actually works wherever it happens to be installed.

Dr. d has even faced enough of these criticisms that he has a fair response already prepared on his website:

If you're making posters from scratch, then you're going to use a stencil or turn to your computer, but you still have to get them up, and I've yet to find the 'Control Alt Complete' command on mine…

Like all art though, the interpretation eventually comes down to the viewer. So what do you guys think? Are these printed graffiti installations art, or something else?