The Hyper-Realistic Spherical Paintings of Daisuke Samejima

Daisuke Samejima is a talented Japanese artist whose amazing spherical paintings look like the view through a fish-eye lens, regardless of the angle you see them from.

Painting a hyper-realistic rendition of an object, animal or human is difficult enough, but imagine doing it on a spherical canvas instead of a flat one. Apart from making sure that everything looks real to the untrained eye, the artist needs to consider the warping necessary to make everything look perfect regardless of what angle the sphere is viewed from. To be honest, photos just don’t do Daisuke’s art justice, so it’s a good thing we also have videos of them…

Photo: Daisuke Samejima/Instagram

Born in Hyogo, Japan, Daisuke Samejima attended Tama Art University in Tokyo and majored in oil painting with a Master’s Degree in Art Science. He currently lives and works in the Japanese capital, but has had his works on display all over Japan, and also in London.

Samejima’s ongoing spherical painting series is called “Flatball”. Most of the artworks are inspired by Google Street View-style versions of Japanese suburban landscapes, featuring houses, infrastructure, cars, and blue skies. What makes these works special is that they make you feel like you’re looking through a fisheye lens or through a peephole.

More impressive still is that the spherical artworks offer a 360-degree view, so there’s something to see from every angle. They can be a bit disorienting, but they are equally fascinating.