Wall Tricks (8 Photos)

July 22, 2026

By Vidar

A wall can become a bus, a face, a window, or the scene of an impossible collision.

Across these eight works, the setting helps complete the image. Corners create depth, brickwork appears to break apart, a tunnel becomes binoculars, and living foliage completes a mouse’s tiny room.

🚌 Wrecked Bus Illusion — By Odeith in Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal 🇵🇹

In August 2019, Odeith turned a concrete block inside an abandoned factory in Vila Franca de Xira into this anamorphic bus. His original reveal shows the finished illusion, while his time-lapse documents the block’s transformation. In an interview published with the work, he said it took approximately 10 hours and around 30 spray cans. More: How Odeith Painted the Bus Illusion.

More: 3D Art By Odeith (25 Photos)

💡 Nerd Fact: The bus idea came only after Odeith had left the factory. He said he initially had no inspiration, left the spray cans in his car, went home for a nap, and returned to paint the bus the following day.

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🎾 Tennis Ball Illusion — By Jan Is De Man in Utrecht, Netherlands 🇳🇱

At Zuilense Tennis Club, Jan Is De Man painted a giant tennis ball bursting through the clubhouse wall for the club’s centenary. The club’s own account records the mural’s unveiling during the jubilee celebration, and the artist’s project post describes it as an illusion made for the club’s centenary. ZTC was founded on 16 May 1925. Photo by Gnik Combor.

More by Jan Is De Man: 8 Happy 3D Artworks.

💡 Nerd Fact: The mural shared its unveiling day with a royal distinction. ZTC reports that it received a Royal Medal of Honour during the same centenary celebration; the Royal House of the Netherlands says the King may award this medal to local associations, foundations, institutions, or sports clubs in recognition of their services.

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🐭 Nadine Listens to the Grapevine — By David Zinn in Columbus, Indiana, USA 🇺🇸

David Zinn drew this temporary chalk-and-charcoal scene in July 2021 in a courtyard at the Bartholomew County Public Library in Columbus. His official archive confirms the title, medium, place, and date. Nadine pulls back a chalk curtain while the recessed brickwork and living foliage become part of her tiny window.

More by David Zinn: Joyful Street Art by David Zinn (36 Photos).

💡 Nerd Fact: The drawing’s setting has a notable modernist pedigree: the library was designed by I. M. Pei in 1969, and its adjoining plaza contains Henry Moore’s Large Arch.

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🔭 Spyglass — By 3Steps in Wetzlar, Germany 🇩🇪

The twin openings of a pedestrian underpass beneath Dammstraße beside Werner-von-Siemens School become the lenses of giant binoculars, with the walkway continuing through both painted tubes. 3Steps’ own archive identifies the work as Spyglass and credits the photo to the collective. The collective’s official project list dates the mural to 2013, while local reporting identifies it as the Niedergirmes underpass.

💡 Nerd Fact: The binocular motif fits Wetzlar’s history. The city’s official “City of Optics” history records that Moritz Hensoldt opened an optical workshop there in 1852 and that his company developed the world’s first roof-prism binoculars in 1897.

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🐦 Somos Tribu — By Badi Coloreando in Ácula, Spain 🇪🇸

Badi Coloreando titled the mural Somos Tribu. He painted it in Ácula, in the municipality of Ventas de Huelma, Granada, during a Liga Nacional de Graffiti event held on 22–24 August 2025. The event’s theme was environmental awareness. The girl smiles at a sparrow while a black rat rests on her shoulder; in his caption, the artist framed the scene as people holding close what they believe is theirs while everything around them burns.

💡 Nerd Fact: The event found its walls through an open local call: residents submitted photographs and exact locations of their façades, and the Liga artists made the final selection.

🔗 Follow Badi Coloreando on Instagram

☎️ The Wire — By SETH in Fontaine, France 🇫🇷

SETH’s official archive identifies The Wire as a June 2017 project for Grenoble Street Art Festival. The festival’s own record places it on two facing façades at 11–14 Avenue Aristide Briand. Each child holds one end of a cup-and-string telephone, while an overhead tram wire completes the optical illusion across the street. The festival’s current archive records that the work no longer exists and has been replaced by a later mural.

More by SETH: 34 Murals by SETH.

💡 Nerd Fact: The festival says the original disappeared during exterior-insulation work on the two buildings and that its replacement had been planned from the beginning. SETH returned to the same façades in 2021 with Eye to Eye.

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💋 Lips Mural — By Odeith in Bom Retiro, Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal 🇵🇹

Odeith painted these lips in 2022 as part of a larger collaborative wall in Bom Retiro, Vila Franca de Xira. In his own post, he captioned the piece “Extra spicy & dripping” and thanked Vile and Wek. Vile’s full-wall post credits Vile, Odeith, Wek (Spray Lover), and Hier, and carries the Bom Retiro geotag. Gloss, shadow, and highlights make the rough concrete read as soft, reflective lips.

More: 3D Art by Odeith.

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🧶 Knit Steps — A Collaborative Project Led by Marianne Meier in Valdivia, Chile 🇨🇱

This collaborative yarn-bombing installation was led by textile artist Marianne Meier with nearly 50 women from Valdivia. They knitted together for a week beside the river before covering the steps and railings at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Valdivia.

More: Knitting Graffiti in Valdivia.

💡 Nerd Fact: The museum occupies the ruins of the former Anwandter brewery. Much of the brewery was destroyed in the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, and the site passed to Universidad Austral de Chile seven years later.