A "fata morgana" is a mirage that looks like a castle.

Here a simple idea creates a rich effect.

The eye restlessly moves between the architectural model
and the mirage trying to confirm their relationship.
The model is cutaway, the mirage is cropped, throwing
the viewer into an endless cycle of comparisons between
the two. Mediating between these architectural fragments
is a tall window and its casing. The simple marble
texture and detailing are enough to induce the ennui of
a warm afternoon. This picture is a wonderful meditation
on the meaning of architecture, as artifice, as desire,
as history, as popular concept...  But it goes further.

Exploring the notion of a model and the mental image
that it might conjure, it binds at once the processes
of architecture, raytracing, and perception itself.
We are shown the tension between design and effect,
model and concept, synthesis and mimesis, or what we
know vs what we see.

The fascinating text which accompanies the picture
demonstrates a deep familiarity with the topic.  But
with it something was lost: the compelling enigma
created within the image alone.

-Jim

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