Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde’s latest project, GROW, involved installing a clever and mesmerizing lighting system in a 2-hectare field of leek for both aesthetic and practical purposes.

People driving by the picturesque town of Lelystad, in central Netherlands, at night, this time of year are treated to a surreal sight – a 20,000m2 field of leek glowing blue, red and purple. Thought up by Studio Roosegaarde, the unique artistic installation is designed both as a homage to Dutch farmers and as an inspiration for them to experiment with artificial light in outdoor farming. Daan Roosegaarde also wants GROW to send a hopeful light to people in these trying times, giving new meaning to the word ‘agri-culture’ as a living cultural artwork.

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From rendering parts of her body invisible, to transforming into a variety of fictional characters, there’s no optical illusion Mirjana ‘Kika’ Milosevic can’t pull off with her makeup skills.

Serbian “skin illusionist” and makeup-artist extraordinaire, Kika Milosevic has never been interested in expressing her talent on conventional canvases. As a child, she would crawl under tables and draw on the backside of them, as well as on the doors and walls of her home. As an adult, Kika chose her own body as a canvas, using makeup and body paint to create the most stunning optical illusions.

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A Taiwanese self-taught cook recently shared photos of her detailed and incredibly adorable fish-shaped dumplings, and they justifiably went viral.

Dumplings come in all shapes and sizes, from the classic half-moon, to the scary-looking alien Warusobo dumplings, but have you ever seen any dumplings cuter than those made by Taipei-based Minmin Chang? The Taiwanese woman took social media by storm last week, after posting photos of her adorable fish-shaped dumplings, along with detailed instructions on how to make your own. The problem is no matter how delicious these treats are, there is no way I’m eating them. They look too darn good!

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Japanese artist Kotetsu blends illustration photography and kirie (Japanese traditional paper cutting) to create beautiful works of art that bring anime heroines into the real world.

Instead of using ink or colored pencils to color the outfits of his illustrations, Kotetsu cuts out the paper canvas and juxtaposes his creations against various backdrops, thus letting Mother Nature do the coloring for him. The result is stunning, often-times bordering on breathtaking. From autumn foliage, and fields full of flowers, to picturesque sunsets and starry night skies, Kotetsu uses nature’s most beautiful elements to complete his artworks.

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Using embroidery and carving as techniques, Hilary Waters Fayle transforms plant leaves into delicate but intricate works of art.

Fabric or leather embroidery is hard enough as it is, but can you imagine practicing it on dried plant leaves and actually creating something beautiful? That’s exactly what Hilary Waters Fayle, a talented artist based in Richmond, Virginia, is capable of, using only leaves, a small needle, some thread and mountains of patience. Although, it seems simplistic in nature, her botanical art is truly awe-inspiring and carries a very deep message.

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Anna Zhirova is a self-taught food artist from Russia who specializes in hand-painting macarons to create unique edible works of art.

An architect by profession, Anna Zhirova came up with the idea of hand-painting macarons completely by accident, but she found the idea fascinating. She had been drawing for as long as she could remember, but the thought of decorating the tiny treats and creating designer macarons was very intriguing. Over time Anna developed both a technique to create the perfect canvas for her art, and the right consistency for the edible food dyes she uses.

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At only 19 years of age, Maxim Sipakov is already a very skilled animator with his own unique niche – he uses neon effects to enhance the appearance of tattoos.

Maxim honed his skills by animating online soccer videos, but he soon found that his talent was much better suited for digital tattoo enhancing, so he decided to focus on that. He takes videos from tattoo artists and other creators and works his magic on them, taking the already impressive body art to a whole new level. Maxim showcases his digital animation skills on Instagram and TikTok, where he has hundreds of thousands of fans and millions of views.

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Kay Pike is a talented designer and model from Calgary, Canada, who spends hours on end skillfully covering herself with body paint to transform into popular superheroes and villains.

Cosplaying used to be a big part of Kay Pike’s life, but after being diagnosed with congenital arthritis in her hips, which caused her excruciating pain, she just couldn’t sit and sew for hours, like she used to. Luckily, in 2015, during the Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo, she discovered “cospaint”, an intriguing art form that allowed her to transform into virtually any comic, cartoon or video game character by using body paint.

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Why get a carpet when you can have one a permanent etched into the floor? Unfortunately, we don’t all have the skill of Spanish artist Selva Aparicio.

Originally unveiled in 2017, Childhood Memories is a visually-striking installation by Selva Aparicio, a talented artist whose thought-provoking works tackle a variety of topics, from politics to the environment. Aparicio spent days hand-carving an intricate carpet pattern into a discarded wooden floor, and the result was so realistic that people only realized it wasn’t a real carpet only when they got close.

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Spanish artist Okuda San Miguel turned a non-descript lighthouse in northern Spain’s Cantabria region into an eye-catching work of art.

Inspired by the “natural wealth of the region by representing local fauna and, with its textures, the cultural diversity of a modern and open Cantabria, which is connected to the world,” Okuda San Miguel turned the Faro de Ajo lighthouse into a technicolor work of art, featuring more than 70 vibrant hues. Okuda started work on the 16-meter-tall lighthouse in August and completed the project, titled “Infinite Cantabria”, in September. Now, the region’s last built lighthouse is meant to become a symbol of the cultural diversity of a modern and open Cantabria.

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Keisuke Inagaki, who describes himself as the “otaku chef” of La Ricetta Restaurant in Zama, Japan, has combined his two biggest passions – cooking and anime – to create his own style of pancake art.

The 51-year-old Japanese chef started making cute pancakes in 2011, as a way of lifting the spirits of kids in his home city of Fukushima, after it was devastated by a tsunami. He had volunteered for a program to take care of young children in a safe area after the nuclear disaster, and was looking for ways to get their attention. He had seen the pancake art of Nathan Shields on the internet, so he decided to give it a try himself, to impress the kids. That was only his starting point in the world of pancake art, though, as today Inagaki as on a whole other level.

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Nigerian artist Oscar Ukonu is a master of the ballpoint pen. He wields the writing tool with such precision and skill that he is able to draw artworks that cannot be distinguished from high-resolution photographs.

The self-taught artist started drawing when he was nine-years-old, but only got into hyperrealistic art during his time in architecture school. Up to that point, he had relied on the good ol’ pencil, but the moment in tried the ballpoint pen for the first time, in 2014, he knew he had found the perfect tool to take his art to a whole new level. He has been mesmerizing fans of hyperrealistic portraits with his incredible artworks ever since. Okonu describes his creative process as his process as “a practice in time and patience”, which makes sense, considering that each and every one of his pieces takes between 200 and 400 hours of work to complete’

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The Covid-19 lockdowns have had a very different effect on people. While the boredom made some depressed, it actually helped others discover hidden talents. Take Anna Chojnicka, who started creating adorable banana peel artworks.

To pass the time and keep her creative juices flowing, social entrepreneur Anna Chojnicka started experimenting with banana peel oxidation as an art medium. Instead of doodling on canvas or paper, she decided to simply bruise bananas with thin, blunt objects and let oxidation do the rest. The bruised peel becomes darker as the hours go by, revealing the design etched into it.

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Turkish artist Deniz Sağdıç creates stunningly detailed portraits out of pieces of denim, using the different available shades of fabric to highlight even the tiniest details.

Deniz Sağdıç grew up surrounded by arts and crafts. Her father was a stained glass master, her uncle was a carpenter and a wood sculptor, her aunts worked as tailors, so she was exposed to art from a very early age. Ever since primary school, she spent a lot of time in her father’s workshop, helping him prepare the materials and cut his stained glass windows. She also spent a lot of time in her aunts’ tailor shop, discovering the secrets of the trade. So it didn’t really surprise anyone when the decided to go to art school.

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Inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic, French artist Gaetan Marron has confined himself to a transparent, 4m² plexiglass cube located inside a Marseille shopping mall for 20 days.

Titled “Non-Essentiel”, Gaetan Marron’s art performance is all about highlighting various issues caused by the lockdowns tied to the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, like the lack of human interaction, the lack of freedom, and the role of so-called non-essential activities like culture and art. Earlier this month, the Marseille-based artist locked himself in a small, transparent plastic cube located inside the local Les Docks Villages shopping center, for a period of 20 days. Passers-by can see him, they can talk to him, and, most importantly, they can donate to him, as Marron depends on donations from his visitors for food.

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