Pareidolia is the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern.

Leonardo da Vinci wrote of pareidolia as a device for painters, "If you look at any walls spotted with various stains or with a mixture of different kinds of stones, if you are about to invent some scene you will be able to see in it a resemblance to various different landscapes adorned with mountains, rivers, rocks, trees, plains, wide valleys, and various groups of hills. You will also be able to see divers combats and figures in quick movement, and strange expressions of faces, and outlandish costumes, and an infinite number of things which you can then reduce into separate and well conceived forms.”

In this exhibition, both online and physical, artists interpret the subject in different ways and through different medium. Some work meets the brief by accident, as a bi-product of the intended subject, where the extent of the pareidolia effect relies on the observation of the viewer. Other pieces are created from the artist’s pareidolia experiences where recognisable forms are consciously extracted or highlighted.

We are currently taking a short break from our themed exhibitions and will announce dates for PAREIDOLIA in the new future.