Big wave, Duke, queen will be pictured on mural

A skylight featuring "curved blocks of aqua jeweled glass" will add to the transparency of the wave

Trompe l'oeil is not a recipe for deep-frying Donald Trump, it is instead a "trick the eye" artistic style that occasionally causes fender benders among distracted drivers. It's a step up from those wallpaper murals in dentists' offices that suggest the wall is actually the midst of a comforting green forest. No, the artist wants to trompe your l'oeil by using all the tricks of perspective and color embedded in your visual cortex.

That's on a wall. If it's on a ceiling, it's "Di Sotto in Su."

Remember when Donald O'Conner ran up the walls in "Singing in the Rain" and then ran toward a hallway, only to run up it as well? The hallway was a painted flat. "Matt-painting" in movie special effects is trompe l'oeil. Got it? You won't get trompe'd again.

The latest trompe of the will is being painted on the Diamond Head side of 401 Kamakee St. (where OnJin's Cafe used to be), by muralist John Pugh.

Pugh will give a presentation of the work in progress, plus sign copies of books he's produced on trompe l'oeil, tomorrow.

The work is currently hidden behind scaffolding as Pugh and crew paint the wall. For the best view, approach the building on Queen Street, headed Ewa.

What is it? Looks like a North-Shore-size breaker with the image of Queen Liliuokalani embedded within.

As Pugh describes it himself on his Web site: "Larger than life, the epic wave behind surfer Duke Kahanamoku is Queen Liliuokalani herself. Bold and defiant, she endures the tide of Western conquests. This glass wave monument honors her spirit that still pounds in the hearts of her people, and unfurls the forged legacy she left behind."

A skylight featuring "curved blocks of aqua jeweled glass" will add to the transparency of the wave. Beneath, painted children will offer gifts to the queen. Deeper in the wave will be other great Hawaiians. Pugh says the balcony will include "a grand staircase that issues forth like sea foam."

And there will be a small park -- a real one -- that includes tropical plantings, intended to "create a meditative sacred space." The project has been funded by Dr. Richard Wasnich, the building's owner.