Getting tricked is usually no fun, but not in the case of brilliant art that tricks the eye. Take for instance, the work of Japanese art university student Hikaru Cho, an example of which is shown in the picture above. Does that look like an ordinary cucumber to you? We certainly wouldn’t blame you if you said it does, but read further to find out what the object really is!

It’s quite disorienting to see a banana appear out of a cucumber, isn’t it? Cho, a soon-to-be 21-year-old student at the Musashino Art University in Tokyo, has created an ingenious and highly entertaining series of artwork in which she has painted over foods to transform them into something that appears completely different, and her work is generating quite a bit of buzz not just in Japan but overseas as well.

Let’s take a look at some of her impressive and what could perhaps be described as eerily deceptive works of art:

▼Here’s the banana-turned-cucumber which you’ve seen already. Cho uses acrylic paints, which she says has brighter color tones and dries faster than watercolor paint.



▼Thought you were having a tangerine? Well, think again — one slice reveals it to be a tomato dressed up as a tangerine!



▼This looks like a little round eggplant, but be careful! You can crack it open … because it’s a raw egg.



▼Okay, this absolutely looks like a daifuku rice cake (made from glutinous rice and filled with sweet red bean paste). How can it be a tangerine in disguise?



▼How’s this for giving a simple potato some character?



▼Another creation using a tangerine–this time an insect larva that looks so real, it’s hard to tell what it is even up-close. (Sorry if you’re not a bug person.)







Okay, so something like the “tangerine larva” may not be for everyone, but you have to admit these are highly unique and immensely creative pieces. Cho has commented that she began this series of work with just some very simple ideas like, “Hey, bananas and cucumbers kind of look alike, don’t they?” She also mentions that the pieces are meant as a symbolic reminder of how absurd it can be to judge something by its appearance, or someone by the color of their skin, for that matter. Well, it’s certainly true that all too often in life, things aren’t what they seem.

Cho admits a major theme in her work is to create “unusual art”, and she has done exactly that and already gained attention for it with her other creations as well, some of which look so bizarrely cool that we even featured them in a past article a couple of years ago. We’re delighted we’ve been able to see more of her work, and from the look of things, we can hopefully look forward to plenty more in the future!

Original article by: Saginomiya Yayoi (c)Pouch

Source and Photos:VISUAL NEWS, Hikaru Cho website

[ Read in Japanese ]