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Art Student Uses Makeup to Transform Her Body into Mind-Bending Optical Illusions

Artist Dain Yoon uses makeup and watercolors to bend our perceptions of what’s real and what’s just an illusion. The 22-year-old student paints on her hands, face, and neck to create visually mesmerizing—and at times confusing—artworks that fuse parts of herself with objects, landscapes, and her own body.

Many of Yoon’s optical illusions feature eyes and hair that are painted on the back of her hands. As she holds up her arm to her face, it’s hard to distinguish what is drawn on her fingers versus her real lips, nose, and eyes. Other works include Yoon’s face painted like a clouded sky and an ornate clock, creating a chameleon-like effect—part of her is completely cloaked in a texture or pattern while the rest is her ordinary self.

Yoon has only recently begun illusion painting. Over the past two months she’s posted several photos and videos of her beautifully confounding works that have since gained attention around the world. Follow her on Instagram to see more mind-bending paintings.

Dain Yoon: Instagram | Blog
via [Mashable]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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