“Everything we think is real is, in some way, an illusion.” Former NASA illustrator Kurt Wenner makes incredible, brain-busting chalk illusions. His works start with diligent planning, beginning with pencil and paper. Kurt even prototypes by using an iPhone’s camera to mimic human sight. He then maps these prototypes onto large street canvases where his ephemeral art can be enjoyed by the public.
Director: Charlie Jordan
Director of Photography: Malcolm Cook
Editor: Joshua Pullar
Talent: Kurt Wenner
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Melissa Cho
Production Manager: Eric Martinez
Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila
Audio: Will Miller
Cam Op/Gaffer: Dominik Czaczyk
Production Assistant: Devin Beckwith
Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Assistant Editor: Diego Rentsch
Special Thanks: Additional festival footage by Alessio Cuomo and Sander de Nooij. Filmed at the Sarasota Chalk Festival, courtesy of Denise Kowal. Special audio thanks to Dylan Bergeson.
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Saddam Mandavi
December 22, 2022 at 5:24 pm
NASA illustrator 🧐
Anto theja
December 22, 2022 at 5:29 pm
This is so fkn dope
Spectrum
December 22, 2022 at 5:33 pm
The amount of chalk this guy has rivals my maths teacher
Carbon and Titanium
December 22, 2022 at 5:34 pm
7:18 Artist worked for NASA to create illusions for them
María Martínez
December 22, 2022 at 6:11 pm
Nope. He created illustrations of things that science studied, like the internal structure of planets; you can see it yourself in the video.
Think. If an artist draws the human anatomy, as most anatomy books have drawings instead of photos of open bodies, does that make human anatomy an illusion?
And, if you suspect NASA (or “them”) is somehow deceiving you by employing artists to draw still unexplored exoplanets, shouldn’t “they” have silenced that interesting detail, not only in this video, but totally in the artist’s bio, or even silenced the guy altogether?
If you are going to believe in conspiracy theories, take them to their ultimate consequences. If NASA lies so much and doesn’t want to get caught, nobody who has ever worked there should be caught alive outside its premises.
I highly recommend you to check this subject, “artist rendering of exoplanets,” to better understand what artists do at NASA. Good luck. ✌
Katya Kaplan
December 22, 2022 at 9:02 pm
tell us, how many times in total did the doctor drop you on your head when you were born?
Daniel Williams III
December 22, 2022 at 5:39 pm
Oh yeah I just take the square and square the square to make a smaller square then detail that square to make a BIGGER square 🤔, that’s all 😀
patricia leonardo
December 22, 2022 at 5:58 pm
That sounds like Kamala Harris
Sarah Gray
December 22, 2022 at 5:44 pm
This man is a legend!
Mariem ♡
December 22, 2022 at 5:45 pm
JF
December 22, 2022 at 5:58 pm
👏
Kimberly G.
December 22, 2022 at 6:12 pm
Student: I don’t wanna learn math. I’ll never use it in real life.
Teacher: Oh really?
buggibii
December 22, 2022 at 6:33 pm
People who can… MENTALLY figure this stuff out, let alone actually do it, boggle my mind to unfounded degrees 🤯
kcmsterpce
December 22, 2022 at 6:35 pm
Julian Beever comes to mind with these. Mindblowing.
Markus 82
December 22, 2022 at 7:04 pm
Rain must be this guys nemesis
purple luffy
December 23, 2022 at 9:19 am
Ok
Toto Denis
December 22, 2022 at 7:17 pm
Hated focal point physics practicals in high school. First time I have found it interesting. Wish I had a physics teacher who was more profound in explaining things
Christian Herzog
December 22, 2022 at 7:25 pm
Amazing 👏
Nina Gvasalia
December 22, 2022 at 8:13 pm
How cool ))
Thomas Durant
December 22, 2022 at 8:56 pm
Hmm, pyramids involved… Illuminati confirmed!
Katya Kaplan
December 22, 2022 at 8:59 pm
me watching this, barely able to draw a stick figure 😳
Mateo
December 22, 2022 at 9:21 pm
Seems like a waste to use pastels and wash away.
Skull Stickers Co
December 22, 2022 at 9:30 pm
imagine it rains as hes almost finished but no one saw it yet :0
Bird Is The Word
December 22, 2022 at 9:55 pm
Those are insane. He’s cracked the code to life for sure
Keizer Hedorah
December 22, 2022 at 10:24 pm
es magico vato
Janet F
December 22, 2022 at 10:44 pm
Ephemeral yet endlessly fascinating!👏
K D
December 22, 2022 at 11:20 pm
So hes telling us the Earth is actually flat and he made it look round for NASA. I knew it !
No Face
December 22, 2022 at 11:31 pm
This is when math becomes useful and cool! 😎
Justa Youtuber
December 23, 2022 at 1:15 am
Chalk this one up to experience.
Sherrie Brand
December 24, 2022 at 11:05 pm
ba dum tssss x2 (squared).
😉
Parker stoops
December 23, 2022 at 1:52 am
I’d love to see the history or development of this genre of art! Great video though
Michelle Little
December 23, 2022 at 1:54 am
He’s absolutely amazing!
Pippa
December 23, 2022 at 3:01 am
This is without doubt one of the best channels on youtube, and this video adds to the collection quite well. Thank you Wired!!
Pippa
December 23, 2022 at 3:05 am
Wondering if you all would ever cover cylindrical mirror art? Such a lost art and so amazing.
Sherrie Brand
December 24, 2022 at 11:01 pm
@Pippa
Just your question here is unfortunately a lost art of sorts (on me) as I’ve never heard of “what you said.”😉 But, thank you! Off now to Google “what the art form is that I questioned over on WIRED’s YT channel. . . .”
The Progression
December 23, 2022 at 3:16 am
Guys a genius
Springer Guy
December 23, 2022 at 7:02 am
absolutely incredible
Don Bohn
December 23, 2022 at 7:47 am
Putting people into his own little simulations. Incredible artwork.
Kevin Luo
December 23, 2022 at 8:46 am
You can do this on paper too. Just have to outline the object on the paper, making sure to stay in one point of view.
Juan Grande Franco
December 23, 2022 at 8:56 am
“What illusion does fundamentally it tells us or reminds us that everything we think is real is, is in some way an illusion” the 60s was a helluva drug.
Artur
December 23, 2022 at 12:37 pm
Are we just gonna ignore the obvious illuminati symbolism at 0:05?? Lol
Potato Face
December 24, 2022 at 2:18 am
I’ve always been so captivated by this type of art
Sherrie Brand
December 24, 2022 at 11:12 pm
Is this The Matrix for graphic artists?
Becca and Charlie's world
December 27, 2022 at 10:34 pm
Amazing