Stunning Surreal Photoshop Art

Surrealism means "above reality", and is an art form which depicts highly imaginative and unlikely scenes in a realistic manner. The art form began in the 1920s, decades before artists began to create digital art on computers. The rise in popularity of Photoshop paintings has inspired a renaissance of surrealism.


The Surreal World of Photoshop
Famous surrealist painter Salvador Dali (1904-1989) worked mostly in oil paint, creating crazy landscapes that shocked and delighted the art critics of his time. Now, a century after Dali's birth, digital artists can create surreal landscapes with ease, using computer arts programs such as Photoshop.

Above: Surrealist artists often create images in which objects are melting. The painting above shows a nightclub in which everything around a beautiful girl is melting. Perhaps the artist is trying to portray that the girl is so hot, the world around her melts.

Above: The Photoshop artist has used organic shapes in place of the woman's body, using only facial features, hands and a human heart to convince the viewer that the subject in the painting is in fact human.

Above: Desert landscapes, cloudy skies and clocks are popular themes in surrealism. It is likely that this Photoshop artwork uses elements from real photos.

Above: Photoshop allows artists to create surrealist art by combining several photographs. This world in a light bulb is an optical illusion created by altering the perspective and size of the photographic elements.

Anything is Possible
The only limits that surrealist Photoshop artists face are the bounds of their own imagination. Photoshop paintings can be edited at any time, which means that several versions of the same art work can exist. A Photoshop painting can evolve over time without the original art being compromised.

Above: This surrealist Photoshop art work takes the social network Facebook literally, creating a book out of this man's face.

Above: Sometimes the line between surrealism and fantasy is blurred, as both art forms describe a world in which the impossible is a reality. The Photoshop painting above shows a world in which a girl is intertwined with tree roots and branches. The painting implies that the tree is animated, and a relationship exists between the girl and the tree.

Above: A whimsical surrealist painting. The Photoshop artist has taken creatures that live in water, such as clown fish and a whale, and depicted them existing happily in air.

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Chainsaw Carving is a Chip Off the Old Block

Chainsaw carving combines the ancient art of carving with the modern technology of the chainsaw, commonly used for tree felling. The artist uses the chainsaw to carve a wooden trunk or block, in a performance that is fascinating to watch.


As with most art forms, chainsaw carving has been used to create fan art of popular media characters from films and games. Most of these character statues are carved from several pieces of wood that are fitted together during the carving process.


Carving of Big Daddy from Bioshock
A chainsaw artist, Jason, creates a chainsaw carving of a Big Daddy from the game, Bioshock. The video below shows the process from selecting wood to completing the tiniest detail.

Above: A video of the chainsaw carving process, which shows a chainsaw artist called Jason carving a Bog Daddy character from the popular game, Bioshock.

Above: The finished sculpture. The large statue is highly detailed and beautifully finished.

Chainsawed Characters from Star Wars

George Lucas's famous movies, Star Wars, have inspired artists to create fan art of the movies' characters. Chainsaw carving lends itself particularly well to woolly and furry characters such as Chewbacca and the Ewoks.

Above: Chewbacca, with Jar Jar Binks. These chainsaw carvings were displayed at an extreme sports event. Apparently the artist won the audience's heart when he cut Jar Jar Binks' head off with a chainsaw.

Above: The Ewoks, a furry alien race from the Star Wars films. The artist has painted the wood to give the statues more character.

Lord of the Rings Characters in Chainsaw Art

JRR Tolkien's famous fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings, has a cast of fascinating and unique characters.  A favorite character from the books and films is Gandalf the wizard, with his long beard and flowing robes, this staff-carrying warrior wizard is highly recognizable, even from afar.

Above: A flat panel chainsaw carving of Gandalf the Grey, from The Lord of the Rings. 

Above: A B-grade depiction of Gollum, mutated hobbit who lives underground and speaks in sibilant riddles.

Above: An ent, a tree character, carved into the trunk of a living tree. Ents can move, talk and have a culture of their own.

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Painting with Wine: a Tipsy Art Style

Wine is an alcoholic drink made from fermented fruits such as grapes. The color of wine varies, from pale yellow through rich red to a dark, plum brown. This range of color and wine's liquid nature means that the drink can be used as an ink.


The Techniques of Painting with Wine
Wine paintings are created in a similar manner to ink or watercolor paintings. The wine "paint" can be watered down for a lighter color, or layered, to create a darker shade. Wine art is painted on porous paper, which has often been soaked and pressed onto a board before painting, to make the paper more absorbent. Watercolor effects tools such as rubber paint and salt can also be used in wine painting.

Above: This wine painting depicts a semi-nude woman pouring wine over her shoulder into a glass. The artist has used several watercolor techniques to create the wine painting such as staining the page with a light wash of wine before painting the subject.

Above: Using wine from the same bottle gives wine painting an even tone. The result in this realistic painting of a castle is that the painting appears to be an old photograph that has faded, leaving only the red ink behind.

Above: The wild essence of this painting is perfect for wine art, depicting both the intoxicating nature of wine and the artist's freedom of expression.

Wine Paintings as Decor

Wine paintings have a place with any wine loving art enthusiast, and make apt decor for bars and pubs. Paintings that use wine as an ink or paint should be sprayed with a sealant and displayed behind glass in a dry frame. Often, wine artists will include the vintage and wine maker's name in the name of the painting, making wine paintings a great promotional tool for wine farms and alcohol distributors.

Above: The artist has used a few well placed brush strokes to create depth in this wine painting. The lighter areas have been painted with watered down wine, and the darker areas use undiluted wine that is layered for deep shadows.

Above: This cartoon character was created with pencil and wine. Like both watercolor and ink, wine can be a very expressive and attractive medium.

Above: The artist has layered brush strokes of wine to create shadows. Other areas of the painting have been outlined in pencil to give the impression of buildings.

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Music Recycled into Art

Erika Iris Simmons is an American artist who transforms used cassette tapes into artworks. The creative process of recycling second hand objects into art is often referred to as up-cycling, an artistic style that is becoming popular with artists around the world.


Turning Cassette Tapes into Art

Using the ribbon from a cassette tape, Simmons creates distinctive portraits of musicians and singers. The ribbon can be cut, bent, glued and even ruffled to create different parts of the face. Working on a white background allows the artist to create areas of stark contrast, highlighting the features of the subject.

Above: A cassette tape fan art portrait of Bob Dylan. The artist has used a variety of techniques to create contrast between the organic facial details and the solid, geometric area of the suit.

Above: A photograph of singer and musician, Bob Marley, is immortalized in this musical art style. The creative use of the tape ribbon near the cassette is a signature style of this artist.

Above: Debbie Harry from Blondie. The use of four cassette tapes in this artwork creates a frame for the singer's face.

Musicians Immortalized in Music and Art

Simmons chooses famous musicians with highly recognizable faces. The visual impact of the art style compliments the strength of these characters, immortalizing their personalities with the very music that they created.

Above: Jimi Hendrix, legendary guitar player and singer. The artist has ruffled the cassette tape ribbon to create the musician's afro hair style.

Above: John Lennon, of the Beatles. The placement of the portrait and the cassette tape makes it seem as though Lennon is emerging from the cassette, much like a genie would emerge from a magic lamp.

Above: Michael Jackson's face is recognizable even when it is portrayed with only a few lines and shapes.

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5 Funny Art Installations

Art installations are physical, sculptural art works that are displayed in public areas. These works of art often have a social or political message, although sometimes, they are simply created to amuse.


"Inversion" aka "Tunnel House"
Houston artists Dan Havel and Dean Ruck transformed a courtyard between two houses into a vortex-like tunnel. The art installation is made using wooden boards; in keeping with the architecture of the area. The finished result is the illusion that some form of black hole has sucked a house into itself, leaving a portal into worlds unknown.

Human Bird Nest Installation
Benjamin Verdonck, a Belgian artist, created this funny art installation, called "The Great Swallow". The artist lived in the human-sized birds nest for several days.

Ice Cream Van Melts in the Sun
In this beach art installation, a large sculpture depicts an ice cream van that has melted under the hot Australian sun.

Art Installation is a Load of Cr*p
Paul McCarthy's "Complex Shit" art installation is made up of enormous inflatable plastic feces. The art work, which was displayed in the garden of a Swiss museum, blew away in a strong wind, bringing down a power line and damaging a glass greenhouse before coming to earth on the grounds of a children's home.

Octo-pied Building has Tentacular Cancer
Artists FilthyLuker and Pedro Estrellas created this hilarious art installation that displays inflatable octopus tentacles waving from the windows of a French building. FilthyLuker comments, "Octo-pied building: a house with tentacular cancer."

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