In the spirit of the holiday season, today’s optical illusion features a series of red and white candy canes.  When you look at these seven pieces of candy, do they appear to be parallel to one another or are they askew?  If you want to be certain, grab something with a straight edge and hold it up to your screen.

(via Babble Dabble Do)

I was not familiar with a Hilbert cube prior to seeing this new stereogram created by Gene Levine.  It is named after the German mathematician David Hilbert, and even when I read the definition, I am still not exactly sure what it is.  Here is how Wikipedia defines the Hilbert cube:

The Hilbert cube is best defined as the topological product of the intervals [0, 1/n] for n = 1, 2, 3, 4, … That is, it is a cuboid of countably infinite dimension, where the lengths of the edges in each orthogonal direction form the sequence .

Sounds confusing, doesn’t it?  Stare at this image to see a 3D version of this very complicated concept.

(via eyeTricks 3D Stereograms)

Ben Heine continues to expand his Pencil Vs Camera portfolio with this new photograph that merges fantasy with reality.  Here, in this busy walkway, Heine holds up a torn piece of paper in the middle of the photograph.  Draw on this paper are a group of individuals aligned in the shape of a heart.

(via Ben Heine)

Photographer and Photoshop expert Erik Johansson recently created this work titled Soundscapes.  The “soundwaves” coming from the the old school gramophone morph into trees in the background as they move from left to right.  Two gentlemen in the foreground are carrying a large record toward the antique sound machine.  I might recommend some iTunes gift cards for these guys for the holidays.  It would make changing the song a lot easier.

(via Erik Johansson)

Streetpainter Leon Keer completed this anamorphic painting featuring Pac Man in Detroit on October 20, 2015.  This 3D painting was created using acrylics on the floor of the downtown One Campus Martius building owned by Dan Gilbert.  The painting was left on display through the end of November 2015, giving all those who work in the building a chance to see and interact with it.  This art was supported by the Bedrock and Library Street Collective.

(via Leon Keer)

This purple circle created by Akiyoshi Kitaoka appears to wobble and pulsate as you look at it.  Try focusing on the gray dot int he center of the image and then moving your head around.  You will find that the circle appears to be very unstable against the black background.

(via Akiyoshi Kitaoka)

In this painting by Rob Gonsalves, the scene in the foreground presents an entirely different meaning than the scene in the background.  This type of transition is pretty common in all paintings from Gonsalves.  If you look toward the back of the image, it appears to be an open body of water – maybe even an ocean.  In the foreground, however, there is a group of individuals standing around and holding umbrellas.  The guy that is in the tall tree on the right helps to add to the confusion presented in this scene.  Is he climbing the tree to get a better look at all the people with uniform umbrellas, or is he just attempting to stay dry?

(via Huckleberry Fine Art)