Gianni A. Sarcone (born March 20, 1962) is a visual artist and author who collaborates with educational publications, writing articles and columns on topics related to art, science, and mathematics education. He has contributed to several science magazines, including Focus Junior (Italy), Query-CICAP (Italy), Rivista Magia (Italy), Alice & Bob / Bocconi University (Italy), Brain Games (USA), and Tangente (France). Sarcone has over 30 years of experience as a designer and researcher in the areas of visual creativity, recreational mathematics and educational games.

Visual research

Considered a leading authority on visual perception by academic institutions, Sarcone was invited to serve as a juror at the Third Annual "Best Illusion of the Year Contest" held in Sarasota, Florida (USA). His optical illusion projects 'Mask of Love' and 'Autokinetic Illusion' were named among the top 10 best optical illusions in the 2011 and 2014 "Best Illusion of the Year Contests", respectively. In 2017, he placed third in the contest for his ‘Dynamic Müller-Lyer Illusion’. Amongst other notable projects, he created and designed an “hypnoptical” visual illusion that was used in the logo and institutional signage of the 2014 Grec Festival of Barcelona, a significant cultural event featuring avant-garde musical, dance, and theater performances. His joint work, “Moona Lisa”, a mosaic of lunar images that, when viewed from a distance, forms the iconic portrait of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, was featured as NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) twice: on October 16, 2021, and again on September 14, 2024, in celebration of International Observe the Moon Night. Since May 16, 2022, in honor of the International Day of Light established by UNESCO, the University of Florence (UniFi) has permanently hosted Sarcone's optical art works in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in Sesto Fiorentino. This exhibition, titled “Enlightening Mind”, is freely accessible and organized by the Degree Course in Optics and Optometry.

[Here are two relative size illusions described by Italian visual researcher Gianni A. Sarcone in 1997 and 2013. The first relative-size illusion called Sarcone's Crosses contradicts Ebbinghaus illusion (aka Titchener Circles, 1898) and Obonai square illusion (1954). Sarcone's cross illusion consists of a cross (the test shape) surrounded by sets of squares of distinct size (the inducing shapes). As shown in the diagram, the three blue crosses in fig. 1.a, 1.b and 1.c are exactly the same size; the one on the left (fig. 1.a), however, appears larger. The illusion works even when the small squares completely occlude the blue cross (see fig. 1.c).

In conclusion, there isn't always correlation between the size of the surrounding shapes and the relative size perception of the test shape. In fig. 2.a and 2.b, by effect of assimilation, the diagonal red line within the large ellipse seems subjectively longer, but in fact the blue line is objectively the longest of both lines. | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Sarcone///Relative///Size///Illusions.jpg]

Honors and awards

Educational project

G. Sarcone has authored and published numerous educational textbooks and illustrated books in English, French and Italian on brain training and the mechanism of vision. He is the founder of Archimedes-lab.org a consulting network of experts specializing in improving and enhancing creativity - for which he has been commended with a long list of accolades and awards, including the 2003 Scientific American Sci/Tech Web Award in Mathematics and received recognition in the US from: CNN Headline News, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), and NewScientist.com.

Media and broadcasting

Some of Sarcone's artworks such as The Other Face of Paris or Flashing Star have gone viral on the Internet. His works were also presented in several national and international television programs, including 'Rai 3' Italy, 'RTL 9 Channel' France, 'TSR 1 Channel' Switzerland, and in the following TV series:

Selected works

Recent published works (2014-20)

G. Sarcone is the author (and co-author) of the following books:

Non-fiction books in other languages

Personal life

Sarcone has practiced and continues to practice various Martial arts and Combat sports, including Yoseikan budō, Kickboxing, Jujutsu), and holds a black belt in Taekwondo.

Related links