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Optical Illusions

Inspired by Felipe Pantone’s Public Art Initiative Project Optichromie—BUF, 2019

Lesson Plan Details

Conceptual Basis

Felipe Pantone is an Argentinian-Spanish artist who started doing graffiti at the age of 12. He uses a prism of neon gradients, geometric shapes, optical patterns, and jagged grids to create works that feel like a collision between an analog past and a digitized future. His mural in Buffalo, Optichromie—BUF, 2019, showcases his signature fusion of mesmerizing black-and-white patterns with bold prismatic forms and oversized fluorescent pixels.

Pantone sees the computer modeling programs he uses in developing his designs as part of a continuum of image-making innovations alongside the pencil and oil paint of his studio practice and street art creations. From this vantage point, the artist is at heart an optimist about the positive potential of a digital future to make the world a more dynamic and connected place.

A drawing of various geometric shapes in rainbow colors and black and white.
A teacher's example project for the artmaking activity