Francis Tabary was born in 1949 in France. His interest in things strange and curious may have arisen after an encounter he had with a conjurer when he was seven, and which marked him for life! Both fascinated and frightened by the mysteries the wizard had shown him, Francis would henceforth find no peace until he had unravelled them.
That is why, at the age of fifteen, he joined the nearest magic club of which he became the youngest member, and where he learned the basic techniques of legerdemain.
After graduating from college as a chemist, he opened a pharmacy near his native village, but he never stopped learning and performing magic.
In 1991, he was awarded the coveted title of World Champion in Lausanne, Switzerland, for a magic act he had elaborated using a rope as sole accessory. Ten years later, he explained his brilliant methods and ingenious new principles in a best-selling book, which is available on this site.
While touring the world with his breathtaking magic act, he visited art galleries, always on the lookout for works both original and magical. He thus rediscovered paintings, drawings or etchings by Dali, Magritte, Vasarely and Escher. However, what fascinated him most were the drawings of impossible objects by Oscar Reutersvärd and the "ambigrams" created by Scott Kim.
True to his calling, he decided to take one step further in this direction, and create objects that could apparently not exist in three dimensions! The first challenge he tackled was Penrose's famous triangle (which had actually been created by Reutersvärd in 1934). His researches and efforts eventually resulted in the making of a three-dimensional "impossible" triangle, a perfect, albeit improbable, combination of illusion and art that had so far eluded everyone!
Since then, Francis Tabary has made fifteen or so such objects, as well as many "ambigrams" designed as sculptures. Today, Tabary dedicates himself entirely to the creation of magic objects, thus giving a unique grandeur and perenniality to the otherwise ephemeral art of illusionism.