Settle something for me here, because I have a theory as to exactly why these are so wonderfully unsettling, or rather, how. These paintings were done by Shanghai-born artist, Lu Cong. The main draw here is obviously the disturbing, penetrating stares of the subjects. Notice if you will, that the majority of these folks have the same greenish-blue eyes. To me, that sameness implies that they are in fact the same set of eyes repeated from one painting to the next, almost like glass eyes being removed and replaced into another body (forgive me for that visual). What's makes these even creepier is that although everything else in the painting looks real, the eyes do not. Now it's not a question of skill, because clearly, the skill is there – he's perfectly capable of conveying realism. Which makes me think the eyes were purposely left a little dull, like he stopped just one step short of painting them realistically to ramp up the creep-factor, for lack of a better word (just how many words for "creepy" are there?). Of course, I could be wrong, but a little art analysis never hurt anyone, right? And right or not, it's a rare treat that an artist's work makes me think this much. Thank you, Lu. I really enjoyed that. (discovered on Conundrum)
...No, seriously, dude, thanks a lot. I'm gonna have nightmares for weeks, and I mean that as a compliment. Isn't Halloween just around the corner? Now. Stop. Staring. At. Me.
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