Look again, there's more than initially meets the eye: The intricate oil paintings that hide remarkable double images

By DAMIEN GAYLE



Imagine: Beatles legend John Lennon emerges through this clever montage of images by Ukrainian artist Oleg Shuplyak



Often in art, a closer look yields something more than initially meets the eye.

These amazing oil paintings by Ukrainian artist Oleg Shuplyak show remarkable double images hiding behind dramatic scenes and tranquil landscapes.

Through carefully placed objects, characters, colouring and shadows, a second image is cleverly concealed within the first.



Double Dutch: This painting shows two portraits of post-impressionist Vincent Van Gogh, one of which is used to create the nose of the main image



Evolving picture: On The Origin Of Species author Charles Darwin is formed using a brick archway, a country scene, a lady reading and a mysterious cloaked figure



Born on September 23, 1967, in the Ternopol region of the Ukraine, Mr Shuplyak studied architecture at the Lviv Polytechnic Institute.



Here's looking at you, kid: Surrealist Salvador Dali, a fan of optical illusions himself, has now become one



His passion was always painting, however, and he has used the technical precision of an architect to create these intriguing optical illusions.

Often his pictures depict famous historical figures like Charles Darwin, Vincent van Gogh and William Shakespeare.



Mind games: This painting, titled Voyeur, shows Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, peering over a lake



Historical references: Marauding Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible comes through in this violent scene



The works are similar to those of the famous Mexican artist Octavio Ocampo, who is well known for evocative paintings in which detailed scenes weave together to create larger images.

Ocampo has dubbed this the metamorphic style, and in his works the second image can sometimes be so subtle it is hard to discern without squinting.

Shuplyak, by contrast, makes the second image so easily recognisable that observers can miss the original.



Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov, the fourth and last generalissimo of the Russian Empire who died in 1800



Leafing you in disbeleaf: Two birds, two very different techniques in creating them



Back at ya: Mr Shuplyak gives himself the special treatment



source: dailymail