Ryan and Trevor Oakes (born 1982)[1](also referred to as the Oakes Brothers or Oakes Twins) are identical twin American artists and draftsmen best known for collaborative large scale drawings using a concave gridded easel.[2] They create camera obscura exact drawings using an easel which they devised and built.[3] Their drawings, paintings, and sculptures explore the intersection of art and mathematics.[4]

Early life and education

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Born in 1982 to social worker Larry Oakes and academic Elizabeth Poe. They attended art school at Cooper Union.[5]

Work

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Using their self-designed easel they render a scene on a curved sheet of paper by tracing what is in front of them onto that page freehand, as if using a camera obscura or a camera lucida projection, only they use no equipment only their own binocular vision or more precisely their visual cortex, which allows them to trace a "ghost" image that appears before them.[5]

Their drawings are often site specific and are often completed in public spaces where the artists engage with onlookers and answer questions about their unique technique. Locations include The Getty Center in Los Angeles and Cloud Gate in Chicago.[6][7][8]

Exhibitions

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Compounding Visions: The Art of Ryan and Trevor Oakes. National Museum of Mathematics. May 2014.[9]

References

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  1. ^ "Ryan and Trevor Oakes Biography, Wiki, Net Worth, Age, Family, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook". www.wikiinformer.com. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  2. ^ "Union List of Artists Names". www.getty.edu. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  3. ^ Weschler, Lawrence (August 15, 2014). "How a Pair of Twins Redrew an Iconic Photograph With Camera-Like Precision". New York Times.
  4. ^ Frank, Priscilla (May 29, 2014). "Identical Twins Combine Art And Math In Hypnotic Exhibition". Huffington Post. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  5. ^ a b Weschler, Lawrence. "Double Vision: The Art of Trevor and Ryan Oakes". VQR: A National Journal of Literature and Discussion (Spring 2009).
  6. ^ Alexandria, Sivak (8 December 2011). "Double Draw: The Oakes Brothers at the Getty". www.getty.edu/iris. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  7. ^ Stephan, Annelisa (6 November 2014). "Watch the Oakes Brothers' Drawing of the Getty Take Shape, Line by Line". www.getty.edu/iris. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  8. ^ James, Damien (October 23, 2008). "The Magic Easel Twin artists Trevor and Ryan Oakes have invented a new way to draw". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  9. ^ Hoffman, Jascha (April 28, 2014). "Science Events: Unusual Vision and D.I.Y. Neuroscience". New York Times.
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