It’s time to pay a visit to the Department of Awesome Mimicry where we’ll meet the Lygodium Spider Moth (Siamusotima aranea). Discovered in Thailand in 2005, this clever creature evolved markings on its wings that give it the impressively convincing appearance of being a spindly, orange spider. The markings deter predators and, now that it’s been discovered by humans, probably many arachnophobes as well.

Photos by John Horstman

[via Geekologie]

It’s time for another dose of Awesome Anamorphic Artwork: Swiss artist Felice Varini uses projectors and stencils to create amazing large scale geometric art installations inside rooms and on exterior spaces. These photos show you his latest anamorphic creation at the Grand Palais in Paris, France. In addition to their impressive scale, what’s truly awesome about these pieces is that they only appear proportional when seen from a specific viewpoint. When viewed from any other spot, the piece breaks down into its component parts.

Click here to watch a video about how Varini creates his artwork.

Follow Felice Varini on Facebook to learn about his other projects.

[via Colossal]

Watch out acrophobes, this piece of anamorphic street art might give you vertigo. Erik Johansson, a Swedish photographer based in Berlin, Germany created the dizzying illusion of standing on the edge of a skyscraper’s roof for visitors actually standing quite safely on the pavement in front of the Skrapan shopping mall in Stockholm, Sweden.

“He sees photography as a way of collecting material to realize the ideas of the mind. Last fall, Johansson was commissioned by the Stockholm shopping mall Skrapan to create a perspective illusion for their 5th anniversary. Being one of the tallest buildings in the city, they wanted to incorporate the view from the top of the building into the optical illusion.”

[via CollabCubed]

It’s a brand new week, which means it’s about time for a new crazy photo meme from Japan. This time those crazy kids, inspired by a new anime series based on the manga Attack on Titan, are playing with the age-old trick of forced perspective and staging awesome photos in which one giant student is grabbing or about to devour their classmates.

“…Attack on Titan tells the story of a wall city that’s being attacked by human-eating giants. The anime’s opening is utterly mental, and it’s inspiring all sorts of video parodies. 

The show seems to have captured the imagination of Japan’s youth. Since late April, photos of “Pretend Attack on Titan” (進撃の巨人ごっこ or Shingeki no Kyojin gokko) have been popping up online. Using perspective tricks, this photo trend usually depicts teens pretending to hold or even eat other kids. There are also photos of teens “attacking” giant classmates. Over the past few days, the number of pics has really begun to take off.”

So, with all of these fantastic photo memes to play with, when do these students have time for class?

[via Kotaku]

Meanwhile, in Norway a few brazen folks have disregarded the Law of Gravity and taken to walking on walls instead of the streets. City walls tend to be much less crowded. You just have to be careful not to walk across windows, trip on CCTV cameras, or fall into open doorways.

Or perhaps it’s the work of Norwegian stencil artist Anders Gjennestad, aka Strøk. This awesome new photorealistic stencil piece can be found on a wall in Porsgrunn, a city and municipality in Telemark county, Norway.

[via StreetArtNews]

FreeYork assembled a great collection of photos of mind-boggling anamorphic street paintings and chalk murals created by American artist Kurt Wenner (previously featured here). Head over to FreeYork to view more.

Stockholm-based photographer Christian Åslund created an awesome visual tribute to retro 2D video games by using the streets of Hong Kong as a backdrop for a delightful series of photos.

“The photos were taken as part of an ad campaign for shoe brand Jim Rickey utilizing models who would lay flat on the streets or sidewalks to create the unique perspective.”

Click here to see more shots from this series.

[via Colossal]