A Freak Accident Leads to Eye-Popping "Double Vision" Art

An accident left Tommii Lim with permanent double vision, so he had to switch his style up—you won't believe your eyes at the results.

by Esther Cho

November 12, 2015, 9:40pm

All images courtesy the artist

Defined by black and white lines, the work of LA-based artist Tommii Lim focuses on notions of abstraction in his large-scale murals and illustrations.

In 2010, a freak accident led the artist to an eye surgery that left him with permanent double vision. The incident became a catalyst for the artist as it physically forced him to simplify his work into the black-and-white realm. The healing process lasted a couple years, during which Lim spent time studying the history of the simple aesthetic in art. A growing interest in abstract minimal genres of art including Russian Constructivism, Bauhuas, Futurism, Cubism, Abstract Expressionism and Op-Art layered in with his love of black-and-white cartoon comic book images from childhood, and along with the simplistic form of the Korean written language, Lim developed his unique aesthetic.

As simplistic as Lim’s art may appear it’s no easy task in achieving it. Lim tells The Creators Project, “Double vision made it difficult to focus on super detailed paintings so it forced me to do more with less and that created a sense of drama caused by the high contrast of true opposites. Working only in black and white helped convey emotions in places that normally wouldn’t be emotional. People have said that there is a lot of motion in my work and I believe black and white helps focus on elemental senses like that.”

Lim’s art encapsulates outdoor adventures like cycling or hiking, scenic sunsets, and mountain scapes. The abstractions contemporize a California lifestyle, and Lim cites as his main influencers artists including Wassily Kandinsky, El Lissitzky, Roy Lichtenstein, and Frank Stella, all whom are artists dedicated to the importance of the line and angle. As an artist, Lim was trained under the late art dealer Karl Bornstein, who is perhaps best known for popularizing the 80s graphic artist Patrick Nagel.

In a pop-up exhibit called The Absence of Color with sneaker brand ASIF, Lim exhibited large-scale paintings, interactive art, abstract barrel pieces, and digital projections inside a three-story penthouse in Downtown LA. Looking to push the limits of perspective in his art, Lim worked with Steve Yoon who developed an interactive 3D virtual reality installation using Samsung Gear VR headsets for guests to experience Lim's while the entire event was filmed in virtual reality with a GoPro 360 furthing the notions of double visions.

“A lot of my work comes from conversations and observations so from there I create a visual dialogue with the space and the viewer," Lim explains. "My style of work is also very communal.”