He is called the master of illusion and is revered as one of the best painters of our time. Works Robert "Rob" Gonsalves reveal to the viewer the beauty of magical realism.
Although Robert's works are quite popular, little is known about their author. This Canadian artist became interested in painting as a teenager and at the age of twelve independently mastered the laws of perspective. A turning point in his artistic career was a street art exhibition in Toronto in 1990, after which he devoted himself entirely to art.
The artist’s works invariably attract the attention of the public, and due to the unusual nature of his works, they are sometimes classified as surrealism. But unlike classic examples of surrealist painting, Robert’s paintings are clearly planned in advance and are the result of conscious creativity, so they are more likely to belong to magical realism. The name of this movement fully conveys the specificity of the artist’s creations: he adds magic to scenes of everyday life and combines different objects in one picture.
The unreality of what is depicted is conveyed by the painter with the help of an excellent knowledge of perspective. This is what makes it possible to perform wonderful metamorphoses with objects, but requires thorough preparation, which is why paintings are painted rather slowly: Robert Gonsalves creates an average of four works per year.
Usually on his canvases you can see at least two different compositions, smoothly flowing into each other. For example, in the work “Toward the Horizon” the arched spans of the highway gradually turn into sailing ships, and the road merges with the border of sea and sky.
Therefore, if it were possible to divide the painting down the middle, it would result in two completely different works. Every detail, be it the equipment of a ship or a wave, is worked out with the smallest strokes, creating a sense of reality of what is happening.
Recurring motifs, such as spans of arches, are not uncommon in Roberta. He uses the same technique in his work “Medieval Moonlight”, in which the openings of Gothic windows to the right edge of the canvas become silhouettes of monks.
All of the artist’s works are invariably associated with the theme of imagination, so very often children are present in the paintings, through whose eyes we can observe the transformation of reality. Swinging on a swing can send a child to unprecedented heights, where you can even look at trees from above, as shown in the work “On the Upswing,” and swimming at night in a lake from the painting “The Phenomenon of Floating” , becomes a journey in endless space.
The paintings of Robert Gonsalves surprise and fascinate at the same time. The painter gives his viewers the opportunity to return to almost forgotten children's games, in which the patchwork quilt became fields, and the bends of the streams turned into beautiful maidens of the spring. Perhaps this is precisely the magic of his works, in which fantasy merges with reality.
" title="
Painting by Rob Gonsalves: an attempt to believe in the impossible" border="0" vspace="5">!}
Painting by Rob Gonsalves: an attempt to believe in the impossible
In his paintings, Canadian artist Rob Gonsalves captures the moment between sleep and wakefulness, creating a captivating, visual depiction of the imagination that dares us to step outside the confines of our lives and see beyond our limits.
Title="
Painting by Rob Gonsalves: an attempt to believe in the impossible" border="0" vspace="5">!}
Painting by Rob Gonsalves: an attempt to believe in the impossible
The artist's images invite the viewer to pass through reality into a certain unreal world, which may be the world of fantasy and imagination. The bridge supports suddenly become acrobats, balancing on each other's shoulders. Either a waterfall is flowing down from the mountains, or a crowd of monks is descending. City skyscrapers turn out to be built from children's blocks, and the wonderful lake in front of the house is just skillfully laid tiles.
Title="
Painting by Rob Gonsalves: an attempt to believe in the impossible" border="0" vspace="5">!}
Painting by Rob Gonsalves: an attempt to believe in the impossible
Title="
Painting by Rob Gonsalves: an attempt to believe in the impossible" border="0" vspace="5">!}
Painting by Rob Gonsalves: an attempt to believe in the impossible
Although Gonsalves' work is often described as surreal, this is not entirely true, since all of his images are carefully planned and the result of conscious activity. His ideas are mainly inspired by the surrounding world and include recognizable human activities, in the depiction of which the artist resorts to impeccable techniques of illusion. Rob Gonsalves brings a sense of magic to realistic scenes. Therefore, the term "magical realism" fits his work much better than any other. His work is an attempt to represent the human desire to believe in the impossible.
Title="
Painting by Rob Gonsalves: an attempt to believe in the impossible" border="0" vspace="5">!}
Painting by Rob Gonsalves: an attempt to believe in the impossible
Title="
Painting by Rob Gonsalves: an attempt to believe in the impossible" border="0" vspace="5">!}
Painting by Rob Gonsalves: an attempt to believe in the impossible
Rob Gonsalves was born in Canada in 1959. He began creating his first works in the spirit of surrealism after becoming acquainted with the work of Dali, and the artist turned to “magical realism” under the influence of the paintings of Rene Magritte and Maurits Escher.
Title="
Painting by Rob Gonsalves: an attempt to believe in the impossible" border="0" vspace="5">!}
Painting by Rob Gonsalves: an attempt to believe in the impossible
Title="
Painting by Rob Gonsalves: an attempt to believe in the impossible" border="0" vspace="5">!}
Painting by Rob Gonsalves: an attempt to believe in the impossible
Rob Gonsalves' paintings, in addition to various exhibitions and galleries, can also be seen in his books (currently there are three of them - “Imagine a Night”, “Imagine a Day”, “Imagine a Place”). In the virtual space you can get acquainted with the rest of the artist’s works, for example,.
Rob Gonsalves was one of the first artists whose work I became acquainted with through the Internet. Master of trompe l'oeil paintings and surreal optical illusions.
No wonder that paintings by Rob Gonsalves so popular on the Internet. Their unusual nature is the best way to promote “viral” spread.
Rob Gonsalves Brief Biography
Rob Gonsalves was born in Toronto, one of Canada's largest and most diverse cities. By the way, Rob’s nationality is, who would have thought, gypsy.
In young age artist was fond of the works of Tanguy, Dali, Magritte and Escher. It was these guys who had a fundamental influence on Rob's work. Perhaps most of all paintings by Rob Gonsalves from Magritte and Escher.
After graduating from college, Rob worked for a time as an architect and also painted trompe l'oeil murals and worked on theater sets. After successfully participating in the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, he devoted himself entirely to drawing.
Books with illustrations by Rob Gonsalves “Imagine a day”, “Imagine a night”
In June 2003, Simon & Schuster released Imagine a Night, the first hardcover book featuring the artist's illustrations. Due to the success of the first book, a second book, Imagine a Day, was soon published, which in 2004 won the Governor General's Award (one of Canada's most prestigious awards) in the category of illustrations for children's literature.
Illustrations by Rob Gonsalves
The Canadian’s works amaze with the intricacies of reality, enliven the imagination, and make you again imagine yourself as a child who flies in dreams and fantasies. His images consist of a combination of ordinary objects and phenomena, but in the most extraordinary way. And the “ordinariness” of objects and characters, perhaps, only enhances the impression of spatial tricks.
The artist’s favorite trick is spatial illusions, obviously, he’s seen enough from Escher. The paintings themselves do not always sparkle with beauty, but the ideas are very good.
Most of the paintings by which we know Goncalves are taken from children's books with his illustrations “Imagine a Night” 2003, “Imagine a Day” 2005, and “Imagine a Place” 2008.
Imagine a day when you don't need wind to fly.
Imagine the day when everything you build will touch the sky (from books)
I like to paint images that create a connection between the human built environment and what happens in nature, this was the starting point for developing an image that expresses my affinity for what are considered mutually exclusive things. Rob Gonsalves
Books by Rob Gonsalves are available on the pirate gathering of all Rus' - root tracker, you can also buy on Amazon or the publisher's website - Google to the rescue.
A short documentary about Rob Gonsalves on YouTube - only if you know bourgeois.
Robert "Rob" Gonsalves (June 25, 1959, Toronto, Canada - June 14, 2017) was a Canadian artist who worked in the style of magical realism-surrealism.
The paintings of this artist cannot be confused with anyone else - they all show the illusory nature of the perception of our real world. If you look closely at each of the artist’s works, you will not find anything fantastic or implausible in any one individual detail. And yet, in general, the scene created by the artist is impossible and unreal! Gonsalves so skillfully blurs the line in the transitions between one reality and another in the same picture that it cannot be explained except by magic.
Rob Gonsalves was born into a Toronto gypsy family in 1959. As a child, he continually developed his interest in drawing. At the age of 12, he learned the technique of perspective, and his knowledge of architecture allowed him to realize imaginary buildings, as well as begin to draw his first paintings.
Having become acquainted with the works of Dali and Tanguy, Gonsalves painted his first surrealist paintings. The "magical realism" of Magritte and Escher greatly influenced his future work.
In the years following college, Gonsalves worked as an architect, but also painted frescoes and theatrical sets that created the illusion of reality. After a successful appearance at a street art exhibition in Toronto in 1990, Gonsalves devoted himself entirely to painting.
Although Gonsalves' works are classified as surrealism, they are still not completely consistent in this style, because his images are always clearly planned and the result of conscious thought. Ideas are mostly generated from the outside world and are based on human activity; the artist uses carefully calibrated illusionistic techniques. Gonsalves adds magic to the real-life scenes. As a result, the term "magical realism" accurately describes his work. His painting is an attempt to demonstrate to people that the impossible is possible.
Many prominent people, famous corporations, and embassies collect Gonsalves’ works and his “limited edition” posters. Rob Gonsalves has participated in Art Expo in New York and Los Angeles, Decor in Atlanta and Las Vegas, and the Fine Arts Forum. He has had solo exhibitions at the Discovery, Hudson River and Kaleidoscope galleries.
In 2003, Simon & Schuster published his first book of illustrations, Imagine a Night. The second was published in 2005, under the title “Imagine a Day”. And the third, “Imagine a Place,” was released in 2008.
Today I will talk about the wonderful artist from Canada Rob Gonsalves ( Rob Gonsalves). The paintings of this artist cannot be confused with anyone else - all of them, in one way or another, show the illusory nature of the perception of our real world. Maybe that’s why the style in which the master works is called “magical realism.” And indeed, if you look closely at each of the artist’s works, you will not find anything fantastic or implausible in any one particular detail. And yet, in general, the scene created by the artist is impossible and unreal! Gonsalves so skillfully blurs the line in the transitions between one reality and another in the same picture that it cannot be explained except by magic.
Gonsalves was born into a family of Romanian gypsies in Toronto, Canada in 1959. Since childhood, he was attracted to drawing; he drew everything he saw around him. By the age of twelve, having comprehended the laws of perspective, he became interested in drawing various fantastic buildings. Later, after studying architecture at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto and Art College in Ontario, Rob began working as an architect, but continued to create his fantastic paintings for his love of drawing. He was attracted by the possibility of playing with perspective and symmetry, and he drew inspiration from the works of such graphic masters as Tanguy, Magritte, and Escher. In search of the possibility of transforming the shapes and contours of objects into something unexpectedly new, Rob achieved unprecedented skill. In 1990, at an art exhibition in Toronto, his work received enormous recognition and, guided by this, he decided to devote his time entirely to artistic work.
One of the famous works The Sun Sets Sail. 
This is one of the artist's signature works, in which Rob masterfully handles perspective and light. When you first look at the picture, you won’t see anything on it except 2-3 sailboats, the sea and the cloudy sky, but what the artist does can’t be called anything other than magic - and now a fantastic aqueduct appears in front of us, stretching into the distance. The theme of aqueducts is often present in Gonsalves' work. The shape and structure of these structures mysteriously transform into something unexpected and amazing...
Toward the Horizon
The structure and material of the buildings undergoes amazing transformations upon closer examination.
Acrobatic Engineering
In general, Rob Gonsalves loves and knows how to work with natural materials: the sea and waves are so close in shape and structure to mountain ranges with their snowy peaks that it is sometimes completely impossible to find the line of transition from one to another in the master’s paintings. As children, we often look at clouds and see some kind of animals in them. The artist uses his imagination to perfection!
Aquatic Mounting
Another fertile theme for fantasies with magical transformation is the play of light and shadow in the bizarre folds of matter and clothing. The terrain also becomes a tool for creating illusion. This is reflected in many of the author’s paintings
Carved in Stone
Water Dancing
Ladies Of The Lake
Silhouettes and outlines of objects familiar to us create images of completely unusual and unexpected things. Grass, leaves, plants - everything serves to disguise magical transitions from one reality to another. Knowledge of the laws of perspective is skillfully used to imperceptibly replace one object with another. THAT, on the one hand of the picture we see as objects of inanimate nature, on the other hand it becomes animate. Try to take a closer look and find the line where this transition occurs - I’m not sure that you will find it!
Medieval Moonlight
The Listening Fields
Ship masts turn into ship timber...
Sailing Islands
Matter is often the camouflage material in Gonsalves' paintings. Behind the silhouettes of curtains and drapes other, fantastic worlds appear.
Making Mountains
Astral Projections
Being a professional architect, the artist cannot avoid the topic of transforming some building elements into others.
Cathedral Of Commerce
Trees, the sky and their reflection in the water serve as assistants for these transformations.
When The Lights Were Out
As Above And So Below(As above, so below) 
High Park Pickets
Sweet City
Gonsalves' world is not so much fantastic as it is invisible to the ordinary observer. Most of the objects and phenomena in the paintings are quite earthly, but their arrangement and style of presentation forces the observer to look at the world created by the artist much more broadly, through the eyes of a child who sees his own dreams and fantasies in ordinary things. Maybe this is why his paintings often depict children as guides to their dream world?
Phenomenon of Floating
Big Air
Tree House in Autumn
Rob Gonsalves is a highly sought after artist. Exhibitions of his paintings are held in many cities in the USA, Canada and other countries. Private collectors, corporations and government agencies are hunting for his works. His rare paintings can be found among politicians, businessmen, embassies of different countries and in museum collections. With all this, the artist is an extremely non-public person, which adds a certain aura of mystery to him. In 2005 he was awarded the prestigious award Governor General's Award in the category "Children's Literature - Illustrations" for his book Imagine A Day. Currently in publishing Simon & Schuster Three illustrated books by the author have already been published where he shares the secrets of his vision of the world.
