Apocalypse has come to the village of Geldern in Germany. A street has crumbled to reveal steaming waters under lava-ridden rock. The artist who created this mega-illusion has destroyed other towns, too.
His name is Edgar Müller, and he's won so many street art contests that he bears the title "master street artist." Over the past two years, he's focused his attentions on creating large optical illusions on the streets and sidewalks of small towns. After creating one of these artworks, which take days even when he has several helpers, Müller likes to photograph people as they interact imaginatively with the optical illusion disasters.
Back in 2007, a small town called Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan, Canada, was suddenly flooded, leaving only a few survivors clinging to a life raft (which I think has a tattered Canadian flag on it).
And a few months ago, a town outside Dublin, Ireland called Dun Laoghaire watched as the ground was torn away to reveal glaciers from an ice age that might descend at any moment. I love watching the people balancing on the edges of the painting, dangling over frozen death.
You can see more of Edgar Müller's illusions of destruction on his website.