COLLEGEVILLE, PA.-“Trompe L’Oeil: The Art of Illusion,” is on view at the Berman museum of Art in the Main Gallery through July 29, showcasing contemporary still life painters whose compositions meld traditional with abstract imagery in fresh and imaginative ways.

Trompe l’oeil art has fooled the eye for many centuries, as the name in French translates, seeking to create the optical illusion that the painted object really exists in three dimensions.

For this exhibit, guest curator Gary Erbe brings together the work of 14 leading contemporary trompe l’oeil artists in an exhibit circulated by Smith Kramer Fine Arts Services and funded in part by Nelson Williams and Dorothy Sopp. This exhibit is traveling to only 13 museums across the nation, bringing together such notable trompe l’oeil artists as Donald Clapper, Larry Charles, Eric Conklin, Ken Davies, Gary Erbe, Michael Gallarda, Gerald Hodge, Michael Molnar, Gale Tate, Debra Teare and Gregory West.

Erbe, an engraver and oil painter from New Jersey , has been painting professionally for 36 years. He has exhibited extensively since 1970. He is listed in several “Who’s Who” compilations, and is a published art writer. His own art can be found in many public and private collections throughout the world.

Also at the Philip and Muriel Berman museum of Art is “Presence Passing: Photographs by Andrea Baldeck,” an inaugural exhibition of Andrea Baldeck’s black and white fine art photography, in the Uper Gallery through August 19.

The Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus, known for its diverse collection, is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Friday; noon to 4:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday; closed Mondays and college holidays. The museum is accessible to the physically disabled. Admission is free. For group tour information, call 610.409.3500. The museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums. Exhibitions and programs are funded in part by a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.