Who would have though that simply painting a mural on the side of a building would one day have the same pollution-cleaning effect as planting 780 trees? Organized by the sportswear company Converse as part of their City-Forests campaign, the latest mural in the Polish city of Warsaw is not only an aesthetically pleasing artwork, but also an ingenious way to tackle urban pollution. Painted using photocatalytic paint with titanium dioxide, on a building that faces the busy metro station Politechnika, the ingenious mural reportedly attracts airborne pollutants before converting them into harmless nitrates through a chemical process involving sunlight. Read More »

Mexican artist Amadeus Garuda combines his passion for plasticine modeling and his love of all things geek to create some of the most stunning sculptures we’ve ever seen. Amadeus, who goes by Dr. Garuda on social media, is a truly multitalented artist. He starts out by drawing a detailed sketch of his chosen character, in the particular pose he plans on recreating. He then start work on the metal wire frame of the sculpture itself, setting it over the sketch multiple times, to make sure it is correctly bent in the right places. Next, he crumples aluminum foil on the frame, and starts applying strips of red modelling clay. Using only his fingers, a scalpel and a cylindrical rod, he molds the clay into stunningly detailed anatomical parts, creased fabric, armor, and more. Read More »

Japanese artist Tomoko Sato honed her carving skills as a food sculptor, but has since transitioned to soap sculpture as well, creating some of the most eye-catching soap bars you’ve ever seen. From elegant geometrical patterns to impressive flora motifs and traditional Japanese designs, there is nothing Tomoko Sato can’t etch into her medium of choice. Her craft requires precision, attention to detail, and mountains of patience. One wrong flick of the wrist and a perfectly symmetrical design is ruined forever. Luckily, Sato has over a decade and a half of experience, and is a true master of her art. Read More »

A stonecutting workshop that set out to carry on the legacy of legendary Russian jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé has managed to raise the art of volumetric mosaic stone cutting to a level never reached before in all of human history. Volumetric mosaic is one of the most complicated and technical hardstone carving techniques. It involves combining volumetric fragments of various colored semiprecious and ornamental stones to assemble impressive sculptural compositions. It has been practiced by Russian craftsmen and artisans for over a century, but Alexei Antonov’s stonecutting workshop in Yekaterinburg has elevated the art form to a whole new level, by incorporating precious metals in the detailed sculptures and using modern technology to make the artworks stunningly detailed. Read More »

Amsterdam-based artist Cedric Laquieze creates creates eerie yet intriguing sculptures of fairies by piecing together various dead insect parts. Over the last 20 years, Cedric Laquieze has created hundreds of unique insect fairies by piecing together bug parts that complement each other in terms of color and texture. He collects dead insects specimens given to him by breeders, takes them apart and then glues various parts (shells, legs, antennae, wings, etc.) together to create his fantastic faeries. Although some people are creeped out by Cedric’s creations, others find them utterly fascinating, and praise the artist for piecing together creatures that look almost lifelike. Read More »

Masahiko Kimura is a Japanese bonsai artist famous for pioneering the ‘bonsai forest’ trend, in which several bonsai trees are planted on interlocking wood or stone slates, forming tiny, whimsical forests. Kimura started out in the world of bonsai art at the age of 15, as an apprentice to bonsai master Motosuke Hamano, at Toju-en Bonsai Garden in Saitama, Japan. After 11 years, a young Masahiko Kimura decides to pursue bonsai art on his own, and ends up creating some of the most controversial bonsai artworks ever. It’s hard to refer to bonsai art as ‘controversial’, but Kimura’s style did ruffle a few feathers among purists of the art at first, as many of them considered that he was breaking too many of the craft’s ancient traditions. Read More »

Russian artist Konstantin Khlanta creates intricate portraits of celebrities and fictional characters by wrapping colored string around strategically placed nails. 27-year-old Khlanta, who hails from the Russian city of Tula, only started doing string art in 2018, when he created a portrait of Chester Bennington, lead singer of Linkin Park, who had passed away a year before. Interestingly, it was Linkin Park who inspired Konstantin’s artistic career, as he only took up drawing back in 2008 after hearing their son the music video for Linkin Park’s ‘Numb’ in which he saw a woman drawing and decided to give it a try himself. Read More »

Shaun Mckenzie, who goes by the name of NeeYellow on social media, is an insanely-talented artist who specializes in hyper-realistic color pencil drawings that look like photographs. The young Australian artist spends anywhere from 60 to 80 hours creating his photorealistic masterpieces, and looking at the degree of detail in some of his works it’s easy to see why he spends so much time on them. To be fair, that is just the average time required to complete a drawing; he has finished some in as “few” as 15 hours, but he has also spent over 280 hours on one of his drawings. It’s painstaking, laborious process that requires mountains of patience is what I’m trying to say. Read More »

mrT stucklife is a talented tattoo artist out of Stockholm, Sweden, who has been getting a lot of attention online for his statuesque black-and-white tattoos. The young Swedish tattooist has an impressive portfolio of black-and-white tattoos, from portraits of pop icons and famous movie scenes to original designs, but it’s his hyperrealistic statuesque tattoos that have been getting a lot of attention on social media platforms like Instagram. And for good reason, as his Greco-Roman art-inspired masterpieces sometimes look chiseled onto their wearers’ bodies. Read More »

Artist John Poppleton combines his love of painting and his knowledge of photography to create stunning landscapes that glow under black light. Poppleton’s Bodyscapes feature mesmerizing scenes – right from summery African savannas to electric lighting storms – on the soft curves of the human form. The breathtaking images usually span out from the model’s back, branching out on to the arms, legs, neck, and even the head. His unique style and the type of scenes that he chooses to paint have earned Poppleton the title ‘Bob Ross of Black Light Body Painting’. Read More »

Luciana Gonzalez is a Brazilian confectionery master specializing in ultra-realistic sugar flowers. Her works is so incredibly detailed and delicate that you would never guess she has only three years of experience. Up until 2017, Luciana Gonzalez had never baked a cake in her life and had never enjoyed spending time in the kitchen. But three years ago the civil engineer decided to abandon her lucrative career in civil construction due to unbearable stress, and try supporting her family in another way. After her former profession put her in the hospital, she decided to go to school again and learn another profession. The Senac Campos do Jordão school of gastronomy was right in front of her house, so she decided to give it a try, despite her total lack of cooking experience. Read More »

Hannah Grace, a creative mother-of-one from the UK, has been doing makeup illusions for only a couple of years, but she is already one of the most talented artists in the business. A former chef turned self-taught makeup artist, 32-year-old Hannah got into facial makeup illusions back in 2018, while painting her face for fun. She realized that she was pretty good at it and decided to pursue the art form further. Since then, she has transformed herself into popular cartoon characters, as well as original illusions, some of which are truly stunning to look at. Although her makeup art started as a hobby, Hannah has managed to turn it into a successful career, at least on social media, where she boasts thousands of loyal fans. Read More »

Eddie Lebeau & Richard Amon, the two halves of London-based food art studio Tattooed Bakers pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved in the world of cake art, with their functional carousel cakes being by far the most impressive. From marine cakes that exotic destinations almost to perfection, to sweet architectural wonders and doll-like edible creations, we’ve featured our share of stunning cake art here on Oddity Central, but we haven’t seen anything quite like Tattooed Bakers’ carousel cakes. Not only are these treats incredibly beautiful, featuring rococo and baroque-inspired decorations, but they actually incorporate mechanisms that make the merry-go-round turn, for an added visual effect. Read More »

Emanuele Dascanio is a super-talented artist whose graphite and charcoal pencil drawings look like high-resolution black-and-white photographs. Looking at some of 37-year-old Emanuele Dascanio’s masterpieces, it’s easy to see why he sometimes takes hundreds of hours to complete a single piece. He often works 12 to 14 hours a day, often sacrificing his private life for art, but he sees it as an investment, if he sows a lot today, he’ll have more results to harvest in the future. The level of detail he is able to achieve using simple pencils is mind-blowing, making it easy to understand why is considered one of the most gifted hyperrealists of this generation. Read More »

Inspired by the popular #gettychallenge a Russian woman has been using various household items and her own makeup skills to recreate over 100 classic paintings to great effect. Back in late March, Saint Petersburg-based art lover Liza Yukhnyova accepted the Getty Museum’s #gettychallenge as a fun way to pass the time during quarantine, only she got so into it that she continued to recreate famous paintings long after the lockdown ended. While most people were content recreating just one famous artwork, Yukhnyova set a goal for herself to replicate a painting a day for 30 days, but she is currently on day 142 and has no plans to stop anytime soon. Read More »