Trompe l'oeil (optical-illusion art) painting has a long history, dating back to the 17th century, but trick art is not always about paintings that create illusions using realistic three-dimensional imagery.
This exhibition traces the evolution of trick art from traditional tromp l'oeil paintings to modern works that use shadows, silhouettes and mirrored images, and includes abstract optical-illusion works of the 1960s, skewed-perspective drawings as well as Surrealist works.
Viewers will instantly recognize the famous Disney bear in Miran Fukuda's illustration "Original for 'Copyright,' " even though her figure is so vague that it doesn't infringe any trademarks or copyright, while Philippe Halsman's print "Voluptuous Death" looks like a spooky skull, but is in fact an image of six naked women. There's plenty on display to show that there are more tricks to trick art than you may think; Aug. 9-Oct. 5.
Bunkamura the Museum; 2-24-1 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. Shibuya Stn. 10 a.m.- 7 p.m. (Fri., Sat. till 9 p.m.). ¥1,500. 03-5777-8600; www.bunkamura.co.jp/english
