Urban Artist Paints Optical Illusions on Boring Buildings to Revive Dreary Neighborhoods—And They’re Amazing

Jan Heinsbroek (inset, center) paints optical illusions on the walls of otherwise dreary building to rejuvenate communities. Courtesy of Jan Heinsbroek

Jan Heinsbroek’s hands shook the first time he stood on a scaffold and painted a nine-story-high cabinet of curiosities built for giants. With cans of colored paint, he nervously worked his artistic magic to brighten the side of an austere concrete apartment complex with an illusionistic shelf. It holds a floor-to-ceiling-size teddy bear and a marble bust as tall as a bus.

“I used to be scared of heights,” Heinsbroek, 42, told The Epoch Times, speaking of the enormous painting project, now displayed in his hometown of Utrecht, Netherlands. “But after a few days I got used [to it].”