Can a house fly without wings? or maybe balloons? If you witness a series of houses mid-air, juxtaposed on the beautiful landscape of Northern Germany, it is bound to leave you with a surreal feeling. Zabadu, the German architect and designer, used the technique of collage to create “Houses”—a set of beautiful buildings flying in the air. Also, read:
- Matthias Jung Creates Photo Collages of Whimsical Houses Using Photoshop
- Fantastical Houses | Matthias Jung
Matthias Jung aka Zabadu has always been passionate about the technique of collage. He has won numerous awards for Photomanipulation. Using images that he captured in his travels and Photoshop, he creates seemingly impossible works of architecture.
“Houses” are created by first establishing a sense of stability and then adding other elements to it to create chaos. For instance, there is this modern-looking building that tethers on needle-thin poles.“A building has to first be stable and credible before I can add some ‘disorder’, to let it fly for example,” explains the artist. “One such disorder refers to another, only hinting at reality. I weave, so to speak, spiritual realities into everyday things.”
Jung has created these whimsical images with the perfect mix of diversity and homogeneity. While stitching different pieces of art together, he takes into consideration the different feelings evoked by the various elements. He mixes together objects that evoke coziness and other that have a sinister appeal, to create tangible reality. Jung gets inspired by everyday objects from spinning tops to intricate doorways. For one of the pieces in “Houses”—named “Expedition to the East Pole”, he has used his grandmother’s tea warmer as the foundation of the building.
His attention to detail and scale ensures that the buildings are consistent with the picturesque backgrounds. This brings a feeling of reality to the image, making viewers question if they have come across the building in real life.
According to the artist, these fantastic pieces of collage art are “architectural short poems” which invite viewers to rethink the shelters they reside in. When different elements with varying associations collide, the surreal art is bound to leave viewers confused, yet introspective. You can follow Zabadu’s works on his website.
All images courtesy of Matthias Jung.