Wait, That’s Art? (8 Photos)

September 30, 2026

By Vidar

Eight works, one double take

In a room full of rubble, Sulley from Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. grips a door while a man in red pulls from the other side. Only the man is real. Each work here plays a similar trick, either with what you think you’re seeing or with what it’s made of.

👶 Born of Nature — By David Popa in Emäsalo, Finland 🇫🇮

A sleeping baby’s face takes shape on the coastal rock, with cracks running across its forehead and dark water breaking below. David Popa worked with the stone’s existing surface, so the fractures stay part of the portrait.

💡 Nerd Fact: Popa’s project page describes the paint as natural earth pigments mixed with water from the site. The photograph is part of his Born of Nature collaboration with Juuso Hämäläinen.

📷 Photo: Juuso Hämäläinen

More: Born of Nature by David Popa

🔗 Visit David Popa’s website

🚪 Give Me Back My Spraycan! — By SCAF

The painted monster leans out of a graffiti-covered corner with its whole weight behind one arm, gripping the edge of a door. SCAF paints Sulley across both the wall and the floor, so the corner seems to disappear. On the other side, the man in red and the rubble around him complete the tug-of-war.

💡 Nerd Fact: The French artist often poses with his 3D pieces to finish the illusion, from dressing as a caveman beside a dinosaur skeleton to feeding a rat a giant piece of cheese.

📷 Photo: Ptite Chinoise

More: 26 Amazing 3D Paintings by SCAF!

🔗 Follow SCAF on Instagram

☀️ Radiance — By Jon Foreman with Layla Parkin at Freshwater West, Wales, UK 🇬🇧

A pale center sits inside alternating rings of darker stones and bare sand, forming an eye-like circle on the beach. Larger dark pebbles define the outer rings, then the pattern thins into scattered stones at the edge.

💡 Nerd Fact: Jon Foreman made Radiance with Layla Parkin in 2025 at Freshwater West, a beach in Pembrokeshire.

More: The Art of Stones (12 Photos by Jon Foreman)

🔗 Follow Jon Foreman on Instagram

🎣 Fisherman — By Justin Bateman in Chiang Mai, Thailand 🇹🇭

The face is easy to miss among the twigs and dry ground. Justin Bateman built Fisherman from found stones, choosing their natural tones to suggest features and shadows. Next to the crouching artist and the large boulders around him, it looks tiny.

💡 Artist Fact: Bateman is a British artist who works in Thailand, Indonesia and the UK. A single pebble portrait can take several hours or even days, and he leaves it where it is to erode back into the landscape: “My work is impermanent, I leave only footprints.”

More: Stone by Stone: Justin Bateman’s Incredible Pebble Portraits in Thailand (12 Photos)

🔗 Follow Justin Bateman on Instagram or visit his website

🦄 A Unicorn at the Window — By Mgr Mors in Jednorożec, Poland 🇵🇱

The windows belong to a municipal building known locally as the teachers’ house; the moonlit forest belongs to Mgr Mors. An armored unicorn fills the gable, while a hunter with a crossbow stands among the trees.

💡 Nerd Fact: InfoPrzasnysz reported on the mural while it was being painted in July 2026. The project, coordinated by a local association, won funding from the Mazovian Citizens’ Budget in a residents’ vote. The scene draws on the local legend in which Prince Janusz of Mazovia hunted a unicorn in the area, said to have given Jednorożec (Polish for “unicorn”) its name.

🔗 Follow Mgr Mors on Instagram

🐾 A Lynx on the Ground — By Hannah Bullen-Ryner

Bright yellow eyes and pointed ears hold this face together. Around them, grass seed heads, small white flowers, shells and bits of stone become markings, fur and whiskers, while the rough ground stays visible between the pieces. Up close, it’s all things you could pick up on a walk.

💡 Nerd Fact: On her website, the Hertfordshire-based land artist says she uses only natural materials found locally, with no permanent fixings, so each piece eventually blows away. Most of her pieces are small enough to fit in the palm of a hand.

More: Nature Is Everything! 18 Stunning Artworks by Hannah Bullen-Ryner

🔗 Follow Hannah Bullen-Ryner on Instagram

👠 The Glass Slipper — By Philip Jackson

A pointed foot appears beneath the folds of a long dress, and under the wide headdress there is no face to see. Philip Jackson’s figure seems caught just before a step, framed by a garden arch. Its pale, textured surface could pass for stone at first glance.

💡 Nerd Fact: Despite its title and pale finish, The Glass Slipper is a bronze sculpture, about 2.2 meters (7 feet) tall and cast in an edition of eight.

More: Haunting Sculptures by Philip Jackson (10 Photos)

🔗 Follow Philip Jackson on Instagram

🧱 A Room Behind the Wall — By Joe and Max

What looks like a broken wall opens onto a staircase, a framed picture, a horseshoe and a pitchfork in a dim interior. Joe and Max build the room with perspective, and painted cracks spread out across the real wall. The man standing beside it makes it look like somewhere you could walk into.

💡 Nerd Fact: 3D Joe & Max is the studio founded by 3D artist and filmmaker Joe Hill with artist Max Lowry.

More: Amazing 3D Art By Joe and Max (8 Photos)

🔗 Follow Joe and Max on Instagram