A girl has her face painted during the 236th annual Military, Civic, and Firemen’s Parade as part of 4th of July celebrations in Bristol, Rhode Island, U.S., July 5, 2021. (Photo by Quinn Glabicki/Reuters)

Revellers with their bodies and faces painted attend the "Zombie Walk" parade in Sao Paulo, Brazil, November 2, 2015. (Photo by Paulo Whitaker/Reuters)

Junior Lambrechts has his face painted in preparation for the Cape Minstrel Carnival in Cape Town, South Africa on January 2, 2023. (Photo by Shelley Christians/Reuters)

Children with painted faces in the art of the bahurupi tradition in Bardhaman, India on April 24, 2021. Impersonators family where their generations are engaged in making face painting and can easily metamorphose into different characters during a performance, as per different Traditional & Tribal myth which is the main earning source for their family. (Photo by Avishek Das/SOPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A man with a painted face and traditional costumes takes part in the Schleicherlaufen festival in the western Austrian town of Telfs February 1, 2015. (Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)

Female soldiers with their faces painted in the colours of the Venezuelan flag, march during a military parade to celebrate the anniversary of Venezuela's independence in Caracas, July 5, 2015. (Photo by Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)

A Netherlands fan with his face painted is seen in the stand before the match against Poland during UEFA Nations League action at PGE Narodowy in Warsaw, Poland on September 22, 2022. (Photo by Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

Karl Bang's paintings are unique because he combines totally different styles of painting within the same format. It is very difficult to design a balanced composition with realistic elements that are juxtaposed with flat colors and patterns. The faces of his subjects are painted realistically in the Western tradition with subtle gradations of color; while, his figures and costumes vignette into abstracted shapes, lines, flat colors and patterns that reflect Karl's background in China. It is as though there are different visual languages being spoken within his paintings.