While some graffiti artists put questionable art and tags around cities, others are turning urban spaces into mind-bending art. The talented 31-year-old Mexican artist Carlos Alberto GH, based in Guadalajara, creates extraordinary anamorphic street art. He transforms dull spaces into surrealistic scenes that come to life at the right angle. It looks like his creations are jumping out of the pavement or walls and the best part is that you can make it seem as if you are interacting with them! The artist masterfully plays with shadows and perspective to create colorful 3D optical illusions that would make any passerby stop for a second and rotate their head trying to figure out ‘how.’

Scroll this impressive gallery of Carlos Alberto’s best works and check out his story in the interview below!

Carlos Alberto has been painting all his life, but ended up as an art conservator until he fairly recently discovered 3D street art and proved that practice indeed makes perfect.

“I specialized in archaeological heritage, so I worked for some years in the Mayan Peninsula in Mexico with the restoration of mural paintings, but since I started to attend street art festivals (every year more often), I decided to pause my career and give 3D paintings a try. At first, it was a bit confusing, I didn’t quite understand how to create the perspective to make the illusion work perfectly, but as I started to practice more and more, it became easy and mostly automatic for me, so now it is part of my life and I can’t imagine myself doing anything different,” the artist told Bored Panda.

We asked Carlos Alberto what he found so fascinating about 3D street art.

“It was fascinating for me that this kind of expression was not only outdoors, but this art was close to people, in public spaces, urban areas, so they were able to see the creation process and be part of it. It’s like a big performance. And at the end, they could interact with the final picture. This was impressive to me, so I had to try it.”

“For me, the world around me is an endless source of inspiration. Nature is filled with wonders, so I try to represent the beauty of all the creatures I see, putting them into surreal contexts, like a magical dream,” Carlos Alberto GH told us about his inspiration. “But not only that, I also find that human beings can be extraordinary and inspiring. Every time I read about someone doing good, it gives me hope that a better future can be built, so while I’m not painting people very often, their actions give me the inspiration to create and try to inspire others with my work.”