From dreamlike illusions to philosophical street stencils, this collection explores how public art stretches, twists, and rewrites time itself. Featured works range from a clock being pulled through a brick wall in Australia to a White Rabbit in Mexico dressed for a mad tea party. You’ll see optical illusions, hand-painted sundials, and even a child dreaming against the ticking of an oversized alarm. These artists invite us to pause and consider how time shapes memory, urgency, and imagination.

More birds!: 8 Beautiful Artworks That Seem to Grow From Nature

1. Time Moves in One Direction, Memory in Another – Artist Daniel Arsham in New York, US

A photorealistic hand painted in grayscale appears to stretch a fabric-like wall around a real mounted clock, giving the illusion that the clock is being dragged backward through time. The piece blends trompe-l’œil realism with conceptual depth.

🔗 Follow Daniel Arsham on Instagram

2. White Rabbit – URZE & CHAD, Mexico City, Mexico.

This fantastical mural features a white rabbit with red-rimmed eyes, dressed in a patterned robe, holding a Roman numeral clock. Surrounded by gold and blue ornamental detailing, the scene clearly references Lewis Carroll’s time-obsessed rabbit.

🔗 Follow URZE on Instagram

3. Radium – SHOK-1 in Le Locle, Switzerland

Painted with SHOK-1’s signature X-ray style, this glowing green mural shows a skeletal hand delicately drawing time with a pencil, its tip forming a clock shape. Located in the birthplace of Swiss watchmaking.

SHOK-1: This piece is about the tragic story of the Radium Girls, who suffered horribly with radiation poisoning from painting watch faces back in the 20s. I think we can still learn from it today as a narrative about the misuse of science by commerce, and of profit over people. I rendered it in the colour of radium watch lume, as if it were the dial glowing in the dark.

🔗 Follow SHOK-1 on Instagram

4. Alarm Clocks Kill Dreams

A minimal stencil in red spray paint on a yellow wall states, “alarm clocks kill dreams,” featuring a simple drawing of an alarm clock. A classic street slogan challenging our relationship with work and rest.

5. ORIGIN – ONUR in Le Locle, Switzerland

This ultra-realistic mural shows a man using a fine instrument to adjust tiny clockwork parts, which seamlessly blend into a painted landscape of a lake and mountains. A tribute to craftsmanship and time’s precision.

ONUR: Watchmakers visualize time and give it a picture. Le locle is the place where the cradle of this visualization of time lies. It was created, built and carried out into the world. The work „ORIGIN“ is not just a watchmaker who symbolically stands for care and consideration. It is also an homage to all people who build their home and their environment with great devotion and precision.

🔗 Follow ONUR on Instagram

6. Space and Time – Eduardo Relero in Bochum, Germany

Drawn directly onto the pavement in 3D illusion style, two surreal figures lie asleep on a bed made of oversized timepieces and gears. One of them clutches a meter-long alarm clock. A viewer poses on the bed, blending into the illusion.

🔗 Follow Eduardo Relero on Instagram

7. Street Sundial

This simple but clever intervention transforms a regular sidewalk pole into a functioning sundial. A half-clock face is painted on the ground, using the pole’s shadow to indicate time.

8. Love Plzeň – Chemis in Plzeň, Czech Republic

A giant child hugs a teddy bear while dreaming beneath a peeling painted wall. Above the child floats an alarm clock, painted as if it’s about to ring. The mural mixes realism with warm nostalgia, painted during the Wallz Festival. More photos here!

🔗 Follow Chemis on Instagram

9. Busy day at Stonehenge as the stones are moved forward one hour

Of course, no one is actually resetting Stonehenge for daylight saving time—but this real historical photo from the 1950s restoration efforts makes it look that way!

More: When Street Art Meets Nature (40 Photos)

Which one is your favorite?

STREET ART UTOPIA

2025-09-21 22:01:00

11 Beautiful Artworks That Seem to Grow From Nature

Some artworks don’t just sit in nature—they become part of it. Around the world, artists are crafting sculptures and murals that seamlessly merge with their surroundings, using trees, vines, and landscapes as living elements of their work. These 11 pieces don’t fight against nature; they grow with it.

From giant figures emerging from forests to street art that transforms urban greenery into playful illusions, these eight stunning creations prove that art and nature can exist in perfect harmony.

More: 8 Inspiring Sculptures Seamlessly Integrated with Nature

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1. “Sleeping Child” by El Decertor (Imbabura, Ecuador)

A mural by El Decertor in Imbabura, Ecuador, depicting a young child sleeping against a concrete wall, with creeping ivy blending into the painting as a natural blanket.

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2. “UMI” by Daniel Popper (Illinois, USA)

“UMI” by Daniel Popper at the outdoor tree museum The Morton Arboretum in Illinois, USA—an intricate wooden sculpture of a woman with tree roots weaving through her body, set in a green landscape.

About and more photos: “UMI” Sculpture by Daniel Popper in Lisle, Illinois

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3. Street Art by David Zinn (Ann Arbor, USA)

A street art piece by David Zinn in Ann Arbor, USA, featuring a small green character with a real grass mustache blending into the pavement.

More!: Street Art by Happiness Maker David Zinn (21 Photos)

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4. Flower Street Art by Fabio Gomes Trindade (Goiás, Brazil)

A mural by Fabio Gomes Trindade in Goiás, Brazil, featuring a girl’s face with a real tree forming her vibrant pink afro hairstyle.

More by Fabio Gomes: How Fábio Gomes Turns Trees into Hair: Stunning Murals in Trindade

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5. Sidewalk Flower Experiment

A beautiful example of accidental nature-inspired art—kindergarten children dropped seeds into sidewalk cracks, leading to a spontaneous floral pathway.

More photos and about: Kindergarten children dropped seeds in the crack of the sidewalk to see what would happen

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6. “Nature Rings” by Spencer Byles (Deep Forest, France)

A series of woven circular sculptures by Spencer Byles made from natural branches, blending seamlessly with the surrounding forest.

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7. Willow Archer by Anna & The Willow (UK)

A woven willow sculpture of a female archer by Anna & The Willow, set against a wooded path.

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8. Wire Mermaid by Martin Debenham (UK)

A wire sculpture by Martin Debenham of a mermaid sitting on a rock, with the intricate metalwork mimicking flowing water.

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9. Snake in the Green — Hyères, France

A plain gray cinderblock wall in a hidden grove was completely transformed into a lifelike snake by street artist Rest4. The viper, rendered in vibrant greens, blues, and yellows, emerges from the shadows of the forest floor. The before-and-after framing reveals the power of imagination to awaken forgotten spaces.

🔗 Follow Rest4 on Instagram

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10. Fluentem Colos — Little Milford, Wales

Land artist Jon Foreman created this delicate, wave-like gradient in a woodland clearing using carefully arranged leaves. Starting in green and fading to deep orange, the sculpture blends with the forest floor in color, shape, and motion—appearing to ripple like wind through grass. More by Jon Foreman: 9 Leaf Sculptures That Stir the Soul in the Forest (Art by Jon Foreman)

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11. Florinda Camila — “WA” Marko Franco Domenak in Lima, Peru

This creative mural cleverly incorporates a real bougainvillea bush as the hair of a painted woman. A monarch butterfly completes the peaceful scene, adding movement to this blend of paint and nature.

🔗 Follow WA on Instagram

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More: When Street Art Meets Nature (40 Photos)

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