Hyperrealism with Tom Mulliner

Day 4 — Why Perception Is Not an Objective Recording The images above shows a GREY tomato. Even when we are told, "THERE IS NO RED IN THIS IMAGE!" it is difficult to believe. Yet our brain automatically compensates for the "cast" cyan/teal coloured overlay. Even the selected colour swatches look like a gradient from red to grey when they are the exact same, continuous colour. It is only when compared to the white surrounding that it looks grey. This is simultaneous contrast. Course: The Constructed Eye: Visual Illusion, Perception Science, and the Work of Akiyoshi Kitaoka and Beau Lotto Instructor: (redacted for roleplay) Diagrammatic contrast: The left ellipse represents afferent sensory signals ("input"), while the right ellipse marks the constructed subjective percept—arrows emphasize the transformative process. This gap underpins all visual illusions discussed across this course. Visual metaphor by the author. Exp...

Vinyl and PVA Binders: Household Plastic Chemistry in Art Materials Day 14 – Intensive Daily Masterclass: The Chemistry of Binding Agents Dramatic Origins: The Postwar Plastic Revolution Hits the Studio In 1947, a new era in art materials quietly arrived with the crackle of a kitchen radio and the gleam of household linoleum. Vinyl and polyvinyl acetate (PVA), the synthetic binders that coated postwar homes, would soon be scrawled, poured, and painted across avant-garde canvases. Plastic chemistry—born from 1920s laboratory breakthroughs—had become the unlikely ally of twentieth-century artists seeking flexibility, clarity, and unparalleled adhesive power. PVA Emulsion Vinyl Acrylic PVC Key synthetic binder families: PVA (Polyvinyl acetate), Vinyl Acrylic, PVC. Note their soft, adaptable film properties, which differ from older natural binders (see: Getty Conservation Institute...

Day 3 – Psychophysics: Measuring Experiences That Cannot Be Observed Directly The Constructed Eye: Visual Illusion, Perception Science, and the Work of Akiyoshi Kitaoka and Beau Lotto Strips with controlled luminance contrast, as could be used in classical threshold experiments (Hecht et al., 1942). Such stimuli are fundamental to measuring perception absent any direct access to neural responses. Expert Objective The aim today is to master how vision scientists measure subjective sensory experiences—contrast, brightness, motion, color—using psychophysical methods, and to critically examine how works like Akiyoshi Kitaoka’s illusions and Beau Lotto’s colour studies draw from, and sometimes complicate, these quantitative techniques. We will explicitly query: How do we reliably quantify something we cannot observe directly? Observed Effects Luminosity Thresholds: Classical experiments (Hecht et al., 1942;...

The Constructed Eye: Retina, Visual Cortex, and Perceptual Construction Day 2 of our intensive masterclass explores how the physical apparatus of vision and its neural processing stages interact to produce our constructed visual reality, emphasizing neural constraints and theoretical challenges for artists and perception scientists alike. Expert Objective This lesson equips advanced artists to deliberately engage—rather than merely experience—the neurologically grounded illusions fueling the work of Akiyoshi Kitaoka and Beau Lotto. By dissecting retina-cortex interactions, you will learn to manipulate image features within strict neuro-visual constraints, and to critique claims about visual filling-in and constructive perception using laboratory evidence, not intuition. Observed Phenomena Retinal mosaics (e.g. cone density gradients, ON/OFF ganglion cell mosaics) systematically distort sampled visual input (Curcio et al., 1990; Fie...

Acrylic Practice: Retarders, Mediums, Gels, Grounds, and Layering Masterclass Day 13 – The Chemistry of Binding Agents Evolution of Binders : From egg tempera and oil to modern acrylics, each brought radical change to materials, technique, and creative freedom. See: National Gallery Conservation Institute . Historical Opener: When David Hockney layered brilliant veils of blue in his 1970s pool paintings, he wasn’t just relying on talent—he was harnessing chemistry. Modern acrylic painting mediums have empowered generations of artists to manipulate drying, transparency, and surface like alchemists at the easel, reshaping art’s possibilities since their invention in the 1950s ( Tate ). Chemistry Behind Acrylic Retarders, Mediums, and Gels Acrylics are suspensions of pigment in fast-drying acrylic polymer emulsions (usually poly(methyl methacrylate) or PMMA). The unique property: once water evaporates, tough, fle...

Acrylic Polymer Emulsions: Coalescence, Flexibility, and Plastic Paint Day 12 – The Chemistry of Binding Agents: From Egg Tempera and Linseed Oil to Modern Acrylic Polymers 1950s: Birth of Acrylics Acrylic polymers unite industrial chemistry with art First commercial acrylic paints (Magna, Liquitex) change the studio forever Original infographic: In the post-war 1950s, acrylic polymer emulsions revolutionized painting, offering artists unprecedented speed, flexibility, and luminosity. (Source: Tate, Golden Artist Colors) Dramatic Open: Picture a New York loft in the early 1960s: piles of paint tubes, a whiff of solvents, and a roll of untreated cotton canvas. Enter acrylic—fast-drying, vibrant, plastic, and free of the burdens oil painters endured for centuries. With a swipe of a palette knife, Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis unlock a new kind of surface, ...