John D Wilson

One Christmas as a 12-year-old boy, John was given a set of oil paints and an easel. Painting revealed a whole new world of colour and texture, and even now, over 40 years later, he uses the same easel. Inspirations include artists like Banksy and L.S. Lowry, along with his own family. In fact, his stick figure characters are adapted from his daughter’s scribbles.

In a world of digital trickery and special effects, it takes a true artist to conjure an illusion with a trusty paintbrush and canvas. All of John’s three-dimensional artworks are originally painted by hand without any digital images or tracing. He does this by painting a perspective in reverse: the parts on the canvas farthest from your eyes are the largest, and the parts closer to your eyes are smaller. As you stand away from the painting, the farthest parts seem to come forwards, and the nearest parts appear to move backwards, reversing the whole picture and creating a 3D effect.

From cityscapes to beach scenes, art galleries and fantasy worlds, John experiments with a range of compositions. He often features elements from seminal works by other artists, including Vincent van Gogh's post-impressionist backgrounds, René Magritte's bowler hat figure and Banksy's street art. For the full spectrum of movement, his artworks are best hung with the centre at eye level. Simply step from left to right to see the magic for yourself!

John says: “Picasso once said that he spent his life trying to paint like a child. This inspired me to mix children’s art with the carefully-planned paintings of an adult artist. I always look at things through rose-coloured glasses. I like to look for the good in things, and I try to depict this in my paintings.”  

You can discover John's newest original 3D paintings here.