This animation of an impossible ribbon was created by Erwin Bonsma.  Depending on how you look at it, this ribbon can be perceived as rotating in two different ways.  He credits the original idea to M.C. Escher’s print titled “Cube with Magic Ribbons” which happens to be the first drawing by Escher to feature a truly impossible object.

(via Erwin Bonsma)

Why is this plane flying so low to the ground?  It looks like an extremely dangerous maneuver.

The plane is actually flying high above the ground. What appears to be the plane’s “shadow” is a lake far below in the background.  This image was provided courtesy of Robert Ausbourne.

Truly Design was asked to create this anamorphic installation for Burning Giraffe Art Gallery in Turin, Italy.  Describing this project, they indicated that:

“We chose the minotaur because of its double human and animal nature, the latter being that of a bull, symbol of our hometown Torino.  The minotaur lives secluded in its labyrinth, as do we within city walls.  However, animal instinct borne within its mind spurs it towards freedom, aspect represented by the minotaur’s dynamic pose, ready to pounce or dash.“

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The folks over at Optical Spy created this really nice motion illusion called Butterflies.  The square in the center of this image appears to be completely unstable as it appears to wobble around.

To see an illusion with a similar effect, take a look at the Moving Mona Lisa Face.

(via Optical Spy)

This painting by Rob Gonsalves, completed in October 2014, features a dramatic transformation.  Looking at the painting from the bottom, a man is standing in a wooded area by a campfire, but as he looks up into the clear night sky, the trees morph into skyscrapers.

(via Huckleberry Fine Art)

Today’s topsy-turvy optical illusion is from a series by Thomas Woodruff called ‘The Court’.  On the artist’s website, the following is noted about this series of works:

This project started with a simple idea: to see if the traditional visual parlor trick of the “upside-down head” could be taken to new pictorial heights while conveying emotional depth.  The impetus for these works began when a close friend of the artist’s was diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s disease.  The friend turned to puzzles to try to keep his mind sharp, and Woodruff began to create his own puzzles where a character can turn into another by a simple flip.

Here is how the head rendered in pastel looks when viewed one way:

By turning the image upside down, a completely different face is revealed.

(via Thomas Woodruff)

Happy New Year everyone!  It is difficult to believe that it is already 2015.  I thought we would kick off the new year with something light and a little humorous.  The person who took this photograph likely did not know exactly what they had captured until they took a look at the picture later.  It looks like the dog on the right is shooting fire from its mouth directly into the fire pit in the foreground.

To see more perfectly-timed photographs that would be difficult to replicate, take a look at the Strange Looking Kid Optical Illusion and the Strange Legs Optical Illusion.  Sometimes the best photographs are the ones that you never planned in the first place.