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Editor

Paul Romhany Email : editor @ vanishmagazine . com

Journalist

Jordana Borensztajn Email : jordana @ jordanab . au

“ Are you an artist ?” Banachek asks in a dimly lit , nostalgic and rustic room at The Orlando in Las Vegas .

Curious , I answer with a hesitant no . He requests I start to draw a cat in my mind . My eyes dart up to the right , and I begin doodling my outline .

“ Did you draw a circle or part of a circle ?” he asks .

“ Yes , yes !” I yell , excited . “ OK , good . Keep going .”

I march on in my imagination . Picasso is channeling through me and I am feeling fantastic .

Banachek abruptly stops me . “ Two triangles ... Does that mean anything to you ?”

My mind is blown . How does he know ?

“ OK , good , keep going . Let me know when you ’ re finished .”

I draw the ears , the eyes , I finish the outline of the face . If you saw what I created , “ masterpiece ” would be an understatement .

“ Got everything done ?” he asks , to which I enthusiastically and confidently answer yes . I ’ m feeling amazing about my imaginary cat ….

Until Banachek stops . He pauses . Seriously , and quietly , he asks : “ Did you forget to put a mouth on it ?” I burst out laughing . There goes my skill as both a deceptive spectator and a budding artist .

Immediately he unpacks it . “ I make people think that I ’ ve gotten into their head ; that I know how they ’ re drawing . Let ’ s go back to the cat . The first thing I say is ‘ Did you draw a circle ?’ They say yes . And so did the whole audience .”

But wait , how did he know that ? I could have started absolutely anywhere with my art piece .

“ The next question is ‘ Two triangles … Does that mean anything to you ?’ Because they might not have drawn the ears yet .” At this point of his explanation I reflect back on my imaginary drawing and the order feels like a giant jumble in my mind . “ If I see a pause here , I ’ ll ask ‘ Two little triangles ?’ and this clicks with the spectator . They say yes and the audience is like ‘ Holy s ** t ’. He knew they drew a circle and he knew they drew two triangles .’

So here I am , sitting opposite arguably the world ’ s most talented , creative , and innovative mentalist decoding in real-time how he enters and unlocks minds and imaginations of not just audience members , but magicians around the world . “ Now I rush you by saying ‘ Keep going , keep going . Let me know when you ’ re done .’ In asking if you drew

VANISH SPECIAL EDITION 2024