personal project

The Treachery of Cels

The Idea

The project draws inspiration from one of Magritte’s most iconic works, La Trahison des images (The Treachery of Images, 1929), better known as Ceci n’est pas une pipe. Magritte often transformed common objects—pipes, clouds, apples—by placing them in unfamiliar contexts, making the familiar strange and thought-provoking. This experiment in cel animation follows that spirit, reshaping familiar figures into objects and blurring the boundary between name and image.

Overview

This personal project is a trilogy of animated loops in which three well-known human figures—from history, politics, and cinema (The Shining)—are morphed into objects that share their names. I also experimented with WebAR and designed three A3 posters: when scanned via QR code, each poster triggers the corresponding loop.

Inspiration

René Magritte, La Trahison des images (Ceci n’est pas une pipe), 1929
© Adagp, Paris 2016 © Photothèque R. Magritte / Banque d’Images, Adagp, Paris, 2016

Final Animation

Color Palette

Line Animation

WebAR experiments

Credits

Photos and footage by my friend and amazing 3D artist Dario Veruari.
Check out his work​​​​​​​ here.

Created using the Artivive platform for WebAR.
Music by The Wildcardz (Artlist collection).