Coming Through! (12 Photos)

The wall is only part of the trick.

From Matawan Creek to a station bridge in Portsmouth, architecture becomes part of every illusion. Across these 12 works, animals, people, and machines seem to push through drains, tunnels, walls, and corners.

More: 10 Street Art Illusions That Fool the Eye

---

🦈 Matawan Creek Shark Mural — By Bob Anfuso (“Tattoo Bob”) in Matawan, New Jersey, USA 🇺🇸

Bob Anfuso, known as “Tattoo Bob,” turned the opening beneath a railroad trestle over Matawan Creek near High Street into the shark’s mouth, while the water completes a second jaw in reflection. News 12 documented the mural, and borough records identify Anfuso as its painter. The red “1916” recalls the attacks in the creek on July 12, 1916. They are often linked to Jaws, although Peter Benchley denied that they directly inspired his novel.

💡 Nerd Fact: Two days after the Matawan attacks, a large shark caught in Raritan Bay was displayed to more than 3,000 people, who paid ten cents each, according to the borough’s historical account.

More: The Matawan Shark Mural and Its 1916 Story

🔗 Follow Tattoo Bob on Instagram

---

🐊 Alligator Drain — By David Zinn at the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA 🇺🇸

David Zinn posted this temporary chalk work on August 6, 2018, with the caption “Alligrator sighting at the Detroit Zoo.” Drawn around a real metal grate at the Detroit Zoo, the grate becomes part of the animal’s back. The zoo’s official directions place the site in Royal Oak rather than Detroit itself.

💡 Nerd Fact: Zinn’s official biography says his temporary street drawings are made entirely from chalk, charcoal and found objects, and are always improvised on location.

More: 19 Chalk Creatures That Look Alive

🔗 Follow David Zinn on Instagram

---

🚤 Weymouth Lifeboat Mural — By Peter Sheridan in Weymouth, England 🇬🇧

Peter Sheridan documented the finished project, which depicts Weymouth’s Severn-class all-weather lifeboat Ernest and Mabel surging through the wall. Weymouth RNLI unveiled the mural on May 4, 2025 at the Custom House, 8 Custom House Quay. It commemorates the RNLI’s bicentenary and Weymouth’s own lifeboat history, which began in 1869.

💡 Nerd Fact: In 1887, Weymouth’s lifeboat crew was given a bell to summon its members. RNLI records say a mortar replaced it in 1895; in 1897, a tug charged at least £3 by day and £6 by night to tow the lifeboat out of the harbour.

More: 12 Murals That Feel Real

🔗 Follow Peter Sheridan on Instagram

---

✈️ Anamorphic Airplane — By Jan Is De Man in IJsselstein, Netherlands 🇳🇱

Jan Is De Man posted the finished work on March 13, 2021, describing it as a “pretty challenging anamorphic piece” without giving it a formal title. It covers the sloping wall beside an underground garage at Jacob Schellingerhof 9. According to a Street Art Cities record based on the homeowner’s account, the sloping site suggested a runway and led to the airplane design.

💡 Nerd Fact: The aircraft subject had an accidental family connection: the homeowner’s father had been an F-16 pilot and worked for KLM for many years.

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

🔗 Follow Jan Is De Man on Instagram

---

🚗 “Sal a jugar” — By Nego in Santa Marta de Tormes, Spain 🇪🇸

Santa Marta de Tormes’ official notice identifies this 2025 trompe-l’œil as Sal a jugar by Jorge Merino, better known as Nego. On Calle Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, the child and toy car appear to cross the wall. Nego described the image as a call to recover childhood curiosity and play.

💡 Nerd Fact: By 2025, Santa Marta’s municipal mural route contained more than forty large-format works. The town had also installed 15 QR markers covering more than twenty murals and night lighting at nine works.

More: 9 Walls That Refuse to Stay Flat

🔗 Follow Nego on Instagram

---

🐘 Elephant at Coconut Beach — By Rosalie de Graaf (RoosArt) in Majanji, Uganda 🇺🇬

RoosArt’s official project page documents this as one of three murals painted at Coconut Beach Resort in Majanji in February 2022. In her post about the elephant, Rosalie de Graaf says it took a week to finish; paint had to be brought from Kenya, and local helpers built the wooden platform she used on the large wall. The real central opening completes the illusion of the elephant stepping through the building.

💡 Nerd Fact: Uganda has both savanna and African forest elephants. Uganda Wildlife Authority says most of the country’s comparatively few forest elephants entered through a corridor from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

More: How the Majanji Elephant Mural Was Made

🔗 Follow RoosArt on Instagram

---

🐆 Black Panther — By Dave Baranes in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, France 🇫🇷

Baranes published the finished mural on October 6, 2024, as his contribution to L’Usine fait le mur. Saint-Maur-des-Fossés’ official event page confirms that the city and Urban Signature brought artists together to paint live at the former waterworks. At 5 Avenue de l’Observatoire, the black panther crosses a painted concrete break and appears to enter the abandoned industrial site.

💡 Nerd Fact: Saint-Maur’s heritage service dates the original waterworks to 1864. It was built by the Compagnie des chemins de fer de l’Est, transferred to the city in 1890, and completely rebuilt in 1966.

More: 7 Endangered Animals by Dave Baranes

🔗 Follow Dave Baranes on Instagram

---

🌈 Neon Jungle — By Luisfer Guarín in Comas, Peru 🇵🇪

In his own post from the project, Colombian muralist Luisfer Guarín identifies this as his intervention at GREENGRAFF’s international festival of muralism and graffiti in Lima. Contemporary festival coverage dates the 2025 event to March 14–25 and lists Comas among its mural locations. The sharply foreshortened hand reaches beyond the wall beside a brightly colored jaguar.

💡 Nerd Fact: GREENGRAFF began in January 2022 as a meeting of fourteen local artists in Villa María del Triunfo. Its programme also includes workshops for children and young people on graffiti, recycling and biodiversity.

More: See “Neon Jungle” in Comas

🔗 Follow Luisfer Guarín on Instagram

---

🦴 Hyena Wall — By SCAF in Puteaux, France 🇫🇷

SCAF captions this anamorphic hyena “CHEEEEEEEEESE” in his own post and says he painted it for the 14th Graffic Art Festival in Puteaux. The festival producer’s official recap lists SCAF among the invited artists and includes a credited image of his work, while Puteaux’s municipal guide dates the event to September 13–14, 2025. The painted frame, paw and shadow make the animal appear to push onto the viewer’s side of the wall.

💡 Nerd Fact: The producer’s official roll call names 23 artists representing eight countries: France, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Italy, Spain and Brazil.

More: 26 3D Graffiti Illusions by SCAF

🔗 Follow SCAF on Instagram

---

🦋 Lace Butterfly — By SWEO & Nikita in Caudry, France 🇫🇷

SWEO’s own post identifies the façade as a Caudry Street Art Festival work. The city identifies the subject as a lace butterfly, while local reporting places it at 2 Rue Montaigne and says Nikita painted the butterfly, SWEO handled the 3D lettering and a marker across the street shows the best viewpoint. The lace-patterned wings refer directly to Caudry’s textile heritage.

💡 Nerd Fact: The French lace federation says the machines that established the local industry were smuggled from Nottingham to northern France in 1816. France now has 80 percent of the world’s Leavers looms, all concentrated in Calais and Caudry.

More: 3D Animal Illusions by SWEO & Nikita

🔗 Follow SWEO and Nikita on Instagram

---

🦖 “Mr T-Rex” — By Shaun Hodgkin in Portsmouth, England 🇬🇧

Shaun Hodgkin calls the stencil mural “Mr T-Rex” in his own post and says he painted it for LOOK UP Portsmouth. The city council dates the 2025 festival to September 13–14, and the official festival map places Hodgkin at Portsmouth & Southsea Station Bridge on Isambard Brunel Road. The stencil texture and painted breaks in the brickwork make the dinosaur appear to step through the bridge wall.

💡 Nerd Fact: The 2025 LOOK UP programme was partly shaped by residents. Portsmouth City Council says local people helped choose where the art went and what it looked like, while the festival added 100 new murals.

More: 16 Street Artworks That Do Not Need Color

🔗 Follow Shaun Hodgkin on Instagram

---

🖐️ Underpass Illusion — By Cosimo “Cheone” Caiffa & Mor Pavone in Nerviano, Italy 🇮🇹

Cheone’s original post credits “Cheone feat. Mor” and places the 2016 work in Cantone, a district of Nerviano. They used the railway underpass walls and columns to turn the painted figure into a giant reaching out of the dark opening; the person posed on the ground completes the forced-perspective photograph.

💡 Nerd Fact: The dating varies in later records. Cheone’s original post identifies the work as a 2016 collaboration, while a later archive post calls it Out of the Tunnel #1 and dates it to 2017.

More: Amazing 3D Murals by CHEONE (24 Photos)

🔗 Follow Cheone and Mor Pavone on Instagram

---

Which one is your favorite?