I’m reminded of M.C. Escher’s famous drawing of hands drawing hands with this book. Luca Del Baldo’s Visionary Academy of Ocular Mentality is a reflective/reflexive study, literally an iconic turnabout in a dialogue between Del Baldo and scholars from a variety of disciplines. The artist worked from photographs provided by the scholars to produce lifelike hyperreal representations of the scholars and invited them to respond to the paintings in exchange for the paintings themselves. Of course, what we have in this weighty hardcover book are photographs of the paintings of the photographs, and so the reciprocal responses are yet again postponed (at least, as I see it).

As a psychologist with a particular interest in mind-body philosophy and the reciprocity of human perception as we go about our engagement in the world, this book stirs both my interest but slight irritation as well. The invitation to scholars, art historians, philosophers,...

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