A woman react inside a cloud of paint powder during the holi one colour Festival held in the city of Cape Town, South Africa, Saturday, March 2, 2013. Thousands of people are taking part in the festival by throwing coloured paint powder at each other to express freedom and the colour of everyday life. (Photo by Schalk van Zuydam/AP Photo)

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.

A PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) activist with her body painted promotes veganism in Bangkok April 21, 2016. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

Painter Alexander Zavala residing in Gelendzhik, painted in the style of a historical series of paintings about animalism epic cats.

A woman poses for a photograph in front of a 3D painting at HK 3D Museum in Hong Kong June 26, 2014. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

A woman walks past a mural painting on a street in Tokyo, Japan on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. (Photo by Koji Sasahara/AP Photo)

A painted stork eats a fish as it is pictured in the Delhi Zoo in New Delhi on December 5, 2024. (Photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP Photo)

Paint-splattered revellers take a break at the Notting Hill carnival in West London in the last decade of August 2022. (Photo by Andy Hall/The Observer)