As a photographer, I often ponder the Russell brothers' statement in the Sierra Club book On the Loose, "After the first artist, only the copyist."  What we do as photographers is look at something from a slightly different angle, through a different lens, with altered effects, and present the new "copy" of something that already exists.  That is why I am constantly enthralled with the "first artist" and her or his work.  This was the case while strolling around the Railyard area in Santa Fe, retrieving veggies from the Farmers' Market.  While heading back to the parking lot, I literally looked up and saw the most amazing facade.  It was the south facing or back wall of G. R. R. Martin's Jean Cocteau Cinema on Montezuma.  There, waiting, was the Beauty in the Beast by 3D muralist John Pugh.  

Obviously, I have not spent nearly enough time wandering Santa Fe lately, because the mural was done in 2015.  The trompe l'oeil technique of making a flat surface look three dimensional has been used on plaster for centuries in Europe.  Pugh has given Santa Fe a real jewel.  To me, it seems as though artists who use these techniques must have a way of seeing that certainly does not come to my eyes.  It is quite extraordinary, and lending a "Game of Thrones" feel to the building.

Santa Fe trompe l'oeil by John Pugh_-3

Santa Fe trompe l'oeil by John Pugh 5

The dragon seems to be bursting through the surface.

Santa Fe trompe l'oeil by John Pugh_1

The shadows add power to the spines.

Santa Fe trompe l'oeil by John Pugh 4

The added and final brilliance in Pugh's mural is Beauty in the Beast, feeling the wall and approaching the dragon.  This is almost everyone's immediate reaction - to feel the three dimensionality, which is there only in our minds.

Santa Fe trompe l'oeil by John Pugh-2

I hope all of you are able to see Beauty in the Beast in the near future.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image@