Colorful Street Art Paintings Replace Heads With 3D Flower Bouquets

Surreal Portraits Flower Head by Sage

Self-taught artist Sage Barnes, known simply as Sage, reimagines painted people in his ongoing series of surreal portraits. Replacing his subjects’ heads with bountiful bouquets and clashing rainbow hues, the men (many of whom are self-portraits) and women confidently balance the weight of these inanimate objects and colorful clouds.

Sage’s most stunning pieces juxtapose faux flowers with painted bodies done in a dripping street art (or graffiti) style. The blooms emerge from bits of broken concrete and extend across walls to create a dazzling combination of color and texture. This variation strikes the conceptual heart of Sage’s work. “[His] main focus is using contrast and representational art to directly draw out the emotions and experiences of the viewer,” he says on his website. The artist not only achieves this but, at times, the feelings of both ecstasy and despair in his paintings are palpable.

Sage sells a selection of his works as prints through his online shop.

The self-taught artist known simply as Sage creates surreal portraits that replace human heads with flowers and clouds of rainbow hues.

Surreal Portraits Flower Head by Sage

Surreal Portraits Flower Head by Sage

Surreal Portraits Flower Head by Sage

Surreal Portraits Flower Head by Sage

Surreal Portraits Flower Head by Sage

Surreal Self Portrait by Sage

Sage: Website | Instagram

My Modern Met granted permission to use photos by Sage Barnes.

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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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