What is the name of the art, popular in the late eighties and early
nineties, that if looked at through unfocused eyes, a new image would
come out of the dots?

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Request for Question Clarification by rainbow-ga on 07 Mar 2005 13:55 PST

Could you be thinking of "Op Art"?

"Op Art, like many styles, is a loosely defined variety of artworks.
This kind of art was first called kinetic art because some of the art
actually moved and the rest appeared to move because of the way the
designs play tricks on our vision. Op Art is concerned with illusion,
perception, and the physical and psychological effects of color. Thus,
Op Art overlaps such movements as Color Field Painting and light
sculpture."

"...These artists created colors in the eyes of viewers by placing
small dots of colors next to each other which would create the color
the artist wanted in the viewers' perception."

http://www.sma.shs.nebo.edu/swap/oapopacts.html

Best regards,
Rainbow

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 07 Mar 2005 14:04 PST

Perhaps you are thinking of the "Magic Eye" 3D pictures, in which you
look at an patterned image cross-eyed or in an unfocused fashion, and
eventually you see a new image with an illusion of depth. This kind of
image was immensely popular in the 1990s.

http://www.magiceye.com/enter.html

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Clarification of Question by shonda123-ga on 07 Mar 2005 14:52 PST

These posters were really popular in the late eighties. Just to look
at it; it seemed to be small dots of may colors. You would stand back
and unfocis your eyes to see what appeared to be the shape of , for
instance, the statue of liberty , coming out of the page. The image
depended on the print. I hope this helps. I just really remember that
there was a name for the particular type of art. MY husband had that
was bluebonnets and when you unfocused your eyes you would see the
state of Texas.

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 07 Mar 2005 16:09 PST

Here is a "Magic Eye" image that turns into two views of the Statue of
Liberty when you look at it in a certain way:

http://www.spinnys.com/collections/magiceye/mageye27.html

A computer monitor isn't a very good way to look at this kind of
image, but is this the type of optical illusion that you have in mind?

shonda123 --

These images are called "single image stereograms,", which is a
special type of 3D image that uses one, instead of two, images as the
"raw material" for viewing three-dimensional images.  Here is a link
to a good website for an explanation of the various type of 3D images:

BBC: 3D Stereograms
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2554445

Here, from that website, is a rather technical definition of a "single
image stereogram":

"6. Single Image Stereogram (SIS) 

"Tyler's improvement on Dr. Julezs' Random Dot Stereogram, whereby the
two images are merged into one picture. There are several variants:

"1. Single Image Random Dot Stereogram (SIRDS6) - Consists of a single
image stereogram with a random pattern instead of a texture.

"2. Single Image Random Text Stereogram (SIRTS) ? Instead of dots,
ASCII text is used for two-dimensional image information.

"3. Single Image Texture Stereogram (SITS) ? This SIS uses texture in
place of a random pattern. There are three basic forms of SITS ? those
with internal 3D elements integrated into a 2D picture, floaters
(visible elements that appear to float in space at different depths)
and floaters integrated with a hidden 3D image."


And here is a link to an entertaining website that offers a  selection
of such stereograms and links to other sources of these images:
Benlo Park: Stereogram Gallery
http://www.benlo.com/sgrams.html


Search Strategy:

I found these sites with the following Google search:

focus 3d images called stereogram
://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-01%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=focus+3d+images+called+stereogram

If you conduct this search yourself, you will find much more
information and many examples of the "single image stereograms" that
interest you.


I am confident that this is exactly the information you are seeking. 
If anything is unclear, please ask for clarification before rating the
answer.

markj-ga

right on the money

shonda123 --

Thanks for the compliment and the five stars.

markj-ga

I am an artist and have loved optical illusions for many years. I have
been working on developing some paintings using a technique similar to
the description of shonda123. I call it Mosaic Impressionism, because
it is not a stereoscopic image. In my painting, you can see some
random dots or squares when looking from up close, but when you look
from a distance or by squinting your eyes, the hidden image becomes
clear. I have been experimenting with this technique for a few months
and have reached a level of comfort that is very satisfying. I got
interested in it because of a painting by Salvador Dali, which from up
close has a woman looking out a window, but from a distance is the
face of Abraham Lincoln. You can see an example titled "Jesus" by
visiting: http://onesgallery.com/gallery.htm
I hope you like it.