Wall Stickers, Murals, Trompe Loeil

In Naples Fl., Don’t be Fooled!

There seems to be a lot of confusion these days about Wall Stickers, Murals and Trompe Loeil in Naples Fl on what’s real and what is not and ironically it is in the business of the art of fooling the eye and what has become known as faux painting and/or faux finishing.

There is a part of Wall Stickers that fall in the Mural Trompe Loeil  category in Naples Fl which is on the more serious side in the world of fine art that has been practiced for hundreds and even thousands of years. Due to the technology of  today, computers and digitalization has brought with it a misconception as to what is real art and what is faux. The difference is one can be mass produced while the other is still done in the traditional sense of how it was done by the masters of the Renaissance periods of the 17th centuries and even before that which goes back to even before the birth of Christ.

You are probably wondering why I am even writing this post but it just so happens that there are many who for the sake of making a dollar are blatantly calling both the digitalized form and the art form as one in the same in order to make the sale of one over the other.

Help me out here and let me know if you can see the irony,

The reason is of course is the costs and how one is a less expensive form to the other but going without identifying one to the other and collecting from it as to how it has been labeled, then once again it is at the expense of the artists who rely on the mural and fine art of trompe loeil painting again.

I mean even many artists themselves are getting involved with the digital world and are selling what I call “Wall Stickers” and calling them actual Murals and Trompe Loeil. Now don’t get me wrong it’s all art when it comes down to whether it is done on a computer or if it is hand painted in the traditional sense.

In a discussion on a group I belong to that is a muralists group this subject had come up as to an artist who I will not name had designed one of these “Wall Stickers” (as I call them) and had done so well with it that it had fooled all but one artist who had pointed it out that it was actually a digital image printed on paper. This even took me by surprise as I am very sharp to see these kind of things and rarely do they get past me. (I must be getting old) Anyway, in one of my comments this is what I wrote and I thought it would be an excellent blog post to bring some explanation to the general public and others who like reading my gibberish and most had agreed that the separation should be clearly made as to what is an actual hand painted mural trompe loeil and one that is done digitally and should only cost approximately half the costs and it went like this,

Yes and he should have labeled it that way because it is NOT painted in the traditional sense of which goes back thousands of years. He should have enough respect for the art form as would any artist, photographer, or illustrator, They are all art forms. Where did I say that your time is not worth any more than mine? Can’t figure why you would be insulted other than maybe not having the ability to create the work yourself in the traditional sense, who knows, who cares really, I use computers to do certain things also to shorten the process, but all the work I do is hand painted, laid out and drawn and/or pounced which has been within the same tradition for hundreds of years so yes my art is real and not digital.

The facts are the facts, one art form is more valuable than the other which is why one costs much less than the other. The time it takes to create one from the other is the difference between the two and whether you make 50 dollars per hour or 100 dollars an hour has nothing to do with it. The value is in the work and time put into it itself just as a water color painting is to an acrylic, or a pastel painting is to an oil and whether one can be held as archival and the other can not. It’s pretty basic knowledge to understand and respect and has nothing to do if I put an “e” at the end of the word artist or not.  I am just stating facts and how one art form should be presented as to another in comparison. Therefore yes his intention WAS to pass the “mural” off as an actual trompe loeil other wise he would have said it was digital work to begin with. However it was the expert eye of Gary Gomez to point this out because the work had even got past me which I had even said it was very well done. Mark knew exactly what he was doing when he started this discussion and posted the image.

The discussion got rather more involved than this and I am not writing this to pick on anyone as that’s just not my style. I am just trying to make a point and to help others understand that what an actual mural is and what is a low cost Wall Sticker and should not be sold as such to the consumer. By comparison it’s like comparing a grape soda to a fine wine.

I just think in my opinion it’s very important to know and recognize the difference when comparing apples to apples and

Wall Stickers, Murals, Trompe Loeil