Using what is essentially a helmet bolted and hinged to a curved easel, Trevor Oakes peers through a gap in his mounted canvas. Standing still, he attempts to focus on his subject and the paper simultaneously.
Once his eyes relax enough, Oakes can see the distant landscape of the Getty Center's central garden superimposed on the canvas just a few inches in front of his face. With a look of extreme concentration etched into his gaze, he begins the tracing process.
"We figured out that you can use a phenomenon of binocular vision to actually create a rendering of how the space looks to our eyes," said Oakes' twin brother, Ryan.
Your eyes pick up two separate images from your field of view, but you typically only perceives one, Oakes told Patch.
Using one eye to focus on the canvas and the other on the landscape, the Oakes are able to draw precisely what they see.
The drawing duo will be available for questions and discussion in the Getty's central garden daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Dec. 24.
For more about the Oakes brothers at the Getty Center, visit the museum blog.
