Weekend Diversion: Something Amazing from Something Simple

"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web." -Pablo Picasso

People find artistic inspiration from a plethora of different sources, ranging from the very complex to the extremely simple. This weekend, I'd like to share with you one of the most stunning, simple artistic constructions I've ever seen. For some reason, the song I'd like to share with you to take you through it is 1990s rapper Skee-Lo's take on a School House Rock classic,

The Tale of Mr. Morton.

Using only simple, paper cut-out setups, some lighting and a camera, artist David A. Reeves has created some incredibly visually complex scenes that deserve to be marveled at.

This and all images credit to David Allen Reeves of http://davidallenreeves.tumblr.com/.

This range from the Old West, above, to comic book fantasy scenes,

Image credit: David A. Reeves.

to scenes from a zombie apocalypse,

Image credit: David A. Reeves.

to a Prometheus-inspired "Alien" scene,

Image credit: David A. Reeves.

to a perilous undersea adventure.

Image credit: David A. Reeves.

In all cases, the level of detail is simply breathtaking, and yet the construction itself is incredibly straightforward and simple. What's perhaps more amazing is that David is only a photography student right now, and began creating this type of art only earlier this year, inspired by the video game Limbo. Here, in fact, is his very first creation using this technique.

Image credit: David A. Reeves.

What's perhaps even more remarkable than all of this is that, on his blog, David not only highlights some delightful compositions, like this Batman/Penguin creation, below,

Image credit: David A. Reeves.

but, for many of these compositions, also gives a behind-the-scenes-look at how these photos were set up and created!

Image credit: David A. Reeves.

What an amazing sight that results from a constructive process that's so simple. Well done, David, and thanks for sharing your creation with the world! (Found via LaughingSquid and Geekologie.)