This awesome tattoo was spotted over at io9.com. Tattoo artist Paul O’Rourkes swirling artwork tricks the mind into seeing a gap, or handle where there is none.
Optical illusions are images or designs that trick the eye and brain. These cleverly created images can confuse the minds visual systems into seeing things that aren’t actually there at all, or even creating a blind spot in the brains receptors causing it to not register something that is right in front of the eye.
Other designs contain two images in one picture; the mind instinctively picks out one, the other only visible when the visual system changes the way you perceive the image.
Did you see the two women, or the skull first?
Other artists use pointillism technique to create these illusions, inking small dots of the same colour to create outlines and shading, creating what appears to be texture or depth in the skin where there is really none.
Gregorio Marangoni
If you're interested in understanding more about optical illusions, check out this TEDtalk
