Artist Challenges the World Around Him by Scribbling Over It

By
Amanda C
-

Just when we thought we saw every form of art, someone surprises us with something new, yet so simple that we wonder how we didn’t think of this cool technique first.

Instagram sensation and illustrator, who goes by the name Paperboyo, has created hundreds of art pieces, combining photography and illustration. His clever illustrations change the appearance of ordinary landscapes and some famous buildings, adding a funny twist to them.

After taking a photo of the environment, he adds his own design to it, allowing us a glimpse into his creative mind. It must be fun to see the world around as he does! Scroll down to see some of his work.

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I'm road-tripping around Arizona at the moment and on my way from Lake Havasu City to Route 66, I passed this quirky structure by the side of the road near Yucca. It's known locally as both the Arizona Death Star and the Golf Ball House. A huge housing development was planned here back in the 1970's and this place was going to be the glitzy restaurant in the heart of the development which also promised waterskiing and other attractions. However the project wasn't successful and in the end the Golf Ball House was the only structure that actually got built, so for years it sat lonely by the side of the road. The current (very friendly) owners opened a store next to the building, planted small aliens and various UFO's by the side of the road and renamed it Area 66 to attract visitors (Information found via @atlasobscura's website) @Visit_Arizona #MyAZTrip #VisitArizona

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This giant fork sculpture was first plunged into Lake Geneva (aka Lac Léman) to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the @alimentarium, a nearby food themed museum. The shiny utensil was then shipped away after the celebrations but a bit over a decade later it came back to Vevey for an exhibition on cutlery (and let’s be honest, an exhibition on cutlery is nothing without a giant fork). This time the local community held a petition and managed to retain the sculpture, so it now stands here in the water as a permanent feature. I did ask if there was a spoon sculpture as well but a bald kid in robes simply said “there is no spoon” #ad @montreuxriviera @myswitzerland #inlovewithswitzerland #montreuxriviera #myvaud

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Back in 1998 France loaned Japan their Statue of Liberty (from it's home in Paris) to celebrate Franco-Japanese ties. The Statue went back home in 1999 but it was so popular that a replica was made so now she's here permanently in Tokyo. There's also a Statue of Liberty in Las Vegas which, in 2010, the US Postal Service mistook for the real one in New York and printed on it's stamps. However it's not an exact replica so the artist behind the sculpture, believing his statue's features to be different enough, sued the US Postal Service for illegally using his design. A federal court agreed with him and ordered the post office pay him $3.5m in compensation! So to make sure I don't get in any copyright trouble I've embellished this one here in Tokyo with my own design 🗽#TokyoTokyo @TokyoTokyoOldMeetsNew #StatueOfLiberty #Odaiba #ad

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I’ve teamed up with @surface_uk again to make some noise (in this case jangly banjo noise) about the release of the new Matte Black Surface Pro 6. I'd like to pretend it's a bespoke design inspired by my cut-outs, but the reality is it’s available in matte black to everyone. Anyway it seemed vaguely appropriate to head somewhere with black in the name to use the device, so here's a shot from Blackpool Beach. I was there over the weekend and managed to catch some pretty amazing sunrises #anythingbutordinary I’m going to be adding my own touch to some of your photos with the Matte Black Surface Pro 6 today. Check out my latest insta story if you want me to “paperboyo” one of your photos.

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AD I came across this place when I was researching ideas for Austin, but I didn't look up exactly where it was assuming it would be easy to spot a gigantic observation tower in the middle of the City. I was wrong; after not finding it I jumped on my phone (taking full advantage @VodafoneUK's Global Roaming Plus where I can roam in seventy seven destinations worldwide without a daily fee) and realised that it wasn't in the city at all but at the Circuit of The Americas, about eleven miles away. So I got in a cab, turned up at this place and let myself into the racetrack (I'm still sort of unsure if it was actually open to the public) and quickly took some photos before anyone had the chance to kick me out! When I'm travelling abroad I rely on my phone so much to help me find the obscure, middle of no-where places I like to photograph and having gone through a phase of buying local SIM cards at airports, roaming has proved to be simpler. Plus I like roaming because after a long flight there's that moment where you've landed, you turn on your phone and all the messages & updates you've missed suddenly ping in and distract you just long enough before they open the airplane doors. So while the other passengers are passive-aggressively making their way to the aisle, I'm having a great time laughing at a Tom Hiddleston meme #RedRoaming @vodafoneuk

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AD Been meaning to make a Popeye idea work for ages- when I was in Basel last year I tried to turn the BIS building into a giant spinach can but totally failed & another time I tried to make a tree look like spinach being squeezed out of a can but that looked crap. The street signs here in Austin loaned themselves nicely to a Popeye idea though. I was trying to find a fun fact to link him to Austin for this caption and all I could find was the fact that the nearby 'Crystal City' erected a statue of Popeye in 1937 to honour the fact his popularity boosted their spinach industry. (I say nearby City, it's about 200 miles away from Austin but honestly this was the best I could do to try and link the two) #UnitedStories @visittheusa @visitaustintx #TrueAustin #Popeye

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