Hand made illusions by Rob Gonsalves

Rob Gonsalves (1959) is a Canadian painter of magic realism and as a child, Gonsalves showed an interest in drawing from imagination using various media. By age twelve, his awareness of architecture grew as he leaned perspective techniques and began to do his first paintings and renderings of imagined buildings. As you can see, there is an obvious and strong influence of Dalí and Tanguy in Gonsalves's work.

Later, Gonsalves worked full time as an architect, also painting trompe-l'œil murals and theatre sets. After an enthusiastic response in 1990 at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, Gonsalves devoted himself to painting full time.

Although Gonsalves' work is often categorized as surrealistic, it differs due to the fact that the images are deliberately planned and result from conscious thought. Ideas are largely generated by the external world and involve recognizable human activities, using carefully planned illusionist devices. Gonsalves injects a sense of magic into realistic scenes. As a result, the term "Magic Realism" describes his work accurately. His work is an attempt to represent human beings desire to believe the impossible.

We present you a gallery of his best works:

"White Blanket"


"Canyon"


"Written Worlds"


"Table Top Towers"


"Ladies of the Lake"


"Wilderness Gothic"


"Acrobatic Engineering"




"Astral Projections"


"Unfinished Puzzle"


"Tree House"


"The Woods Within"


"Tributaries"


"Still Waters"


"The Light of the Late Night"




"Medieval Moonlight"


"New Moon Eclipsed"


"Roots & Wings"


"On The Upswing"


"Into the Labyrinth"


"The Performar and his Public"


"Pulling Strings"


"In Search of Sea"




"Making Waves"


"Community Portrait"


"Flight Plan"


"Deluged"


"Here Comes The Flood"


"The House by the Railroad"


"Autumn Architecture"


"Castle on the Cliff"


"Carved In Stone"




"Cold Comfort"


"For The Birds"


"The Mosaic Moat"