You’ve probably seen hundreds of nature-inspired paintings like the ones created by Russian artist Alexander Yurkov. But, although you can’t tell at first glance, his works are truly unique. In fact, they’re not even real paintings…

It’s a real shame awe-inspiring artworks like the ones created by Alexander Yurkov remain unknown to most of the western world, while other less impressive works get loads of attention on art and design sites and in famous galleries. This Russian master spent decades perfecting a technique he developed himself that involves creating painting-like mosaics exclusively out of dried leaves, grass and flowers. That’s right, there isn’t a single stroke of paint or pencil in the masterpieces below, only cleverly selected and positioned tree leaves, pieces of dried grass and withered flowers. How he manages to get the color tones and shades so perfect that it makes people stick their nose to the artworks trying to spot the actual leaves and making sure there’s no oil paint involved, is beyond me, but it’s this mystery that makes Yurkov’s art so intriguing.

Alexander Yurkov was born in 1935, in Russia’s Perm region. He grew up in Krasnoyarsk, graduated from art school, and attended the College of Arts. He worked as an art director at theaters in various Siberian cities, and since the 70’s he has been living in Nizhny Novgorod, one of the Russian Federation’s most important cultural centers. It was here that Yurkov started developing his unique technique of creating painting-like mosaics exclusively from natural materials. As you can imagine, the process of piecing together such an intricate work of art is a tedious and time-consuming process that requires great patience, a keen eye and a delicate sense of color.

One would be tempted to think that the materials he uses only allow Yurkov to create autumn landscapes, but the artist’s inspiration allows him to depict realistic winter scenes, white clouds, buildings, animals, and whatever else s needed to make his works look as realistic as possible. His impressive portfolio even includes a self portrait made from dried leaves and flowers Hundreds of his incredible floral mosaics are displayed in the Yurkov gallery, in Nizhny Novgorod, but over the years his works have been presented at various galleries and exhibitions across Russia.

Photos via Privet.ru