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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Maltby Trompe l'Oeil Mural

Victoria's Chinatown continues to offer some splendid street scenes. This one, a mural by Victoria artist, Jeff Maltby, is on Fisgard Street very near the Chinese Public School and the Lee's Benevolent Society Building, both of which are pictured in earlier posts on this blog. I love the way this mural is so beautifully integrated into its environment. It's actually on two walls, at right angles to each other and I have included a wider angle shot below that shows the mural in context.This mural is not only remarkable for its visual slight-of-hand but for its historical contribution to our appreciation of Chinatown and for its many charming details, one of which is below.

10 comments:

USelaine said...

That is truly amazing! I think Victoria finally trumped my little Willits koi pond. Just beautiful.

Janet Kincaid said...

I love tromp l'oeil art! This is a great example. Thanks!

vero said...

Beautiful murales, it's very like to the reality.

Hilda said...

Wow! That's a fantastic mural. I especially love your wide angle shot to show its context.

Uma por Dia said...

How beautiful!!

Bergson said...

beautiful mural

Knoxville Girl said...

Wow, I love the depth and perspective of this mural, not to mention the bright colors. I would have tried to walk down that street and ended up with my face smooshed on the brick wall.

raf said...

Quite frankly, Benjamin, I find it breathtaking. Because the mural is so nicely blended into the actual structure, it is, as you say, even more impressive. Wonderful post!
I was grdually working my way toward your blog tonight, but while visiting Elaine's blog, was swooshed here even sooner.

Benjamin Madison said...

Thanks all for your kind remarks. It really makes me realize how half-asleep I am most of the time when I think that I passed this mural probably 50 times before I noticed it. One of the best things about doing this City Daily Photo blog exercise is that it forces one to stop rushing about and just look around carefully at one's own environment.

Jeff Maltby has done at least one other mural here in Victoria and I photographed it once, not very successfully because it is very large and it is difficult to find a good place to photograph it from. However, sooner or later I will feature it on these pages since it is even more impressive than this example.

Benjamin Madison said...

Elaine, admittedly Maltby's work far surpasses the Willits Koi Pond but had it not been for that post I would probably never have noticed the Maltby murals so, thanks.