alexanderkhokhlov

The 2D or Not 2D series isn't the first time Russian photographer Alexander Khokhlov has dabbled in painting his models faces and taking striking portraits of the results. His Weird Beauty series got quite popular, with black and white designs jumping out at you from the faces of his made-up models.

2D or Not 2D, however, is different -- and not just because he used color this time. It's different because the point of each photo is to trick your mind into thinking you're looking at a two-dimensional painting.

Moscow-based photographer Alexander Khokhlov has a striking series of portraits of models with various designs painted onto their faces. The faces are either painted completely black or completely white, and then used as a canvas for some kind of artwork (e.g. a Mickey mouse face, a silhouette, a keyhole). Khokhlov calls the series Weird Beauty.