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FindingJane
Mar 02, 2016FindingJane rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Some works are so original that just a mere glimpse at the title or cover is enough to spark a memory or pique the curiosity. So it was with “Imagine a World”. Just passing by a crowded shelf, the word “Imagine” caught my eye and I was immediately reminded of “Imagine a Night”, another picture book by Rob Gonsalves that I’d read in the past. Could it be that this was another of his works? It is. “Imagine a World” contains all the scope, breadth, majesty and playful creativity as that other Gonsalves book. With a seemingly limitless imagination, Mr. Gonsalves envisions a world where books in a library become steps to the outer world, a lake becomes a star-filled night sky, cakes turn into buildings and a pouring waterfall a ballet troupe of naiads. Interiors flow seamlessly into exteriors and back again, encouraging the eye to roam over the paintings, trying and failing to find the transition. Mr. Gonsalves would have us believe that there is none, that man isn’t separate from nature but an inextricable part of it. Recalling the tricky capabilities of M. C. Escher, who could turn fish into birds, Mr. Gonsalves goes him one better, as his paintings tell stories about the truly boundless and beautiful world in which we live.