Carl Leck, also known as CBL Imagery, transforms anonymous walls into portals to other dimensions. An artist and muralist from Indianapolis, with a degree in graphic design and fine arts from Ball State University, he has made the trompe-l’œil technique his visual language, creating optical illusions capable of bending space and deceiving the eye. In his work, perspective becomes living matter: every line, every shadow is crafted to make the imagination of passersby vibrate.

His works punctuate the city and beyond, with iconic interventions such as the mural dedicated to the hundredth edition of the Indianapolis 500—an explosion of energy and movement that covers 27 square meters of wall—or the gigantic 3D illusion created for the Lucas Oil Stadium, a piece that seems to open a breach in the very structure. In neighborhoods like Broad Ripple Village, his three-dimensional geometries become perfect backdrops for photos and chance encounters, transforming the urban space into an open-air gallery.

Even his commercial projects, such as those for Jiffy Lube in Indianapolis, carry the same meticulous precision: from the iridescent feathers of a bird that seem to emerge from the wall, to a dreamlike interpretation of The Wizard of Oz, to a cave of giant gummy bears opening onto the highway. To build these illusions, Leck works like a craftsman of perspective, creating clay models or photographic studies to analyze how light and shadow behave in the real world, and then recreating them on a monumental scale.

His is a kind of work that invites us to look a little further, to explore the limits of street art. Carl Leck shows us that it’s possible to go beyond the concept of graffiti as we know it, deceiving us and creating a window into an impossible elsewhere.