Chinese-born street artist DALeast, whose work is recognizable for its unique style anywhere he paints, has left a trail of stunning 3D graffiti spanning several continents. Based in South Africa with his wife, the 29-year-old artist spends around half a year traveling around the world and painting his graffiti artworks in different cities. Each piece of his street art looks as it’s made out of thousands of metal shards, which all come together beautifully to shape different animals, birds or humans in action.

Born in Los Angeles in 1980 to an engineer and an artist, Mac has been creating and studying art independently since childhood. He was inspired at a young age by classic European painters such as Caravaggio, and Vermeer and Art Nouveau symbolists such as Klimt and Mucha. This was mixed with the more contemporary influences of graffiti and photorealism, as well as as the Chicano & Mexican culture he grew up around.

Street art started out as unintelligible words written on concrete walls with spray paint by gang members or silly kids. Now, however, it evolved into a unique form of art that might stun and inspire awe in the onlookers. For example, the artist that goes by the name 1010 specializes in creating optical illusions. His creations look like portals into other dimensions, without any hint that it might simply be a flat concrete wall painted over with multicolored paints. These pieces of art are so good that it is hard not to reach out into these ‘holes’ to find out whether or not they are real. (Photo by 1010)

A girl walks in front of a graffiti painted on the wall of a house located inside the 15th-century complex built by Mameluk Sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbey, in Cairo's City of the Dead, Egypt February 13, 2017. (Photo by Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

A mural signed by “TV Boy” and depicting Pope Francis and U.S. President Donald Trump kissing, is seen on a wall in downtown Rome, Italy on May 11, 2017. (Photo by Tony Gentile/Reuters)

A woman walks past murals adorning the walls of Garibaldi subway station, in Milan, Friday, February 28, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak in northern Italy, the bustling metropolis of Milan has resembled more of a ghost town lately, as workers stayed home and tourism has dwindled there, and other parts of Italy. (Photo by Luca Bruno/AP Photo)

Erica Daly, a District Nurse Team Leader at Mersey Care NHS, stands in front of the “Liver Bird Wings”, an artwork by Paul Curtis on a wall within Liverpool's Baltic Triangle on April 29, 2020. (Photo by Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)

A woman wearing a protective face mask walks past a graffiti, after authorities eased lockdown restrictions that were imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Mumbai, India, June 12, 2020. (Photo by Hemanshi Kamani/Reuters)