California-based glass artist Loren Stump specializes in a form of glasswork called murrine, where rods of glass are melted together and then sliced to reveal elaborate patterns and forms. While the murrina process appeared in the Mideast some 4,000 years ago, Stump has perfected his own technique over the past 35 years to the point where he can now layer entire portraits and paintings in glass before slicing them to see the final results. His most complex piece to date is a detailed interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks, which involved hundreds of glass components that were melted into a final piece.

A visitor poses behind the artwork “Convergence” by artist Masarrat Fatima M Sulaimani and curated by Samar Kamel at the World Art Dubai fair at the Dubai World Trade Centre in the Gulf Emirate of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 08 October 2020. Around 2,000 art pieces are displaying at the sixth edition of the World Art Dubai fair which is running from 08 to 10 October 2020. (Photo by Ali Haider/EPA/EFE)

As kids we have the natural desire to explore and to create. Whenever our parents would make for us a paper plane, we would become overjoyed seeing it fly across the room. However, planes are not the only thing that can be made from paper, and not only kids are fascinated by it. Some people master the art of origami and are able to create pretty much anything. You never know what’s going to come out when the artist twists and turns a piece of paper in meticulous ways. Finally, the figurine is complete, and you immediately see the striking resemblance of this piece of paper with an animal or some other creature. Ross Symons is one of those artists. He creates his figurines simply for the joy it brings him. Maybe, he uses this as a medium to enter his childhood, or maybe he has other motifs – we will never know. (Photo by Ross Symons)

Pedestrians and workers pass an upside down car art installation in a car park on the South Bank in London, February 19, 2015. British artist Alex Chinneck's illusory piece, entitled “Pick yourself up and pull yourself together”, and on display in the working car park for a week, sees a Vauxhall car suspended upside down, appearing to be gripping onto a peeled back length of tarmac. (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)

A Donald Trump impersonator with a bikini clad model stops at a hot dog vendor near Trump Tower on October 25, 2016 in New York, as part of a performance art piece by British artist Alison Jackson. The event is to promote Jackson's new show, “Private”, in New York, which features staged photographs portraying the private lives of public individuals. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)

Born in Russia where he was educated in fine arts from a young age, Rinat Shingareev took an early interest in the subject, for which he showed an affinity and talent. Later moving to Italy to attend the Fine Arts Academy he has been described by Italian Maxim as “one of the most talented artists in the world”. Now based in London Shingareev continues to paint vibrant and thought provoking pieces.

You might think Ysabel LeMay’s works are hyper-realistic paintings but they’re created through an innovative technique called photo fusion. The Quebec-born, U.S.-based artist takes hundreds of photographs for each piece, attunes the light and visual properties, then assembles one detail at a time in a painterly fashion to form a single composition. Each work takes 4 to 8 weeks on average.

The Azerbaijan-based artist’s mixed-media installations include pieces entitled “Looking at two cities from one point of view”, “Plastik portret” and “Crisis haha”. Alakbarov carefully positions multicolored acrylic planes, packaging materials, and other objects of assorted shapes and then projects light upon then to create shadow images of beautiful beaches, cities, people, and even words.