Tiny slivers are sliced away from a single, oversized sheet of white paper in a zig-zag pattern to reveal portraits of public figures, from Audrey Hepburn to Michael Jackson, in this series of photorealistic portraits by Korean artist Yoo Hyun. There’s no ink, graphite or paint involved – just an X-acto knife to cut out the negative space and tweezers to carefully peel those pieces away.

Take a close look at Hyun’s works and you realize how strikingly simple this process is, working a similar way to pixels. All you’ll see, when examining a small strip of one of these portraits, is a bunch of diagonal white lines. It’s amazing to see how much detail comes through, the portraits somehow revealing nuances in skin and hair texture, when you look at them from farther away.

The trick is in ever-so-slight variations of the thickness of each diagonal line of paper. Even the smallest cut-out can convey a shadow, while uncut areas make highlights pop. Pulling this off requires incredible precision, as a mistake the width of a human hair can affect the final outcome.

Check out more of Hyun’s work on his Instagram, @yoo.hyun, or on Facebook.

Who doesn’t love art that breaks the mold? Recycled art and design, green art and extraordinary art from everyday objects all stimulate the imagination in ways ordinary works can rarely achieve – and cardboard art is no exception. Recycled and environment friendly, the following artwork is not just an expression of the artists’ points of view but is also a statement about the nature of art itself.

Alex Uribe

(source: Alex Uribe)

Inspired by nature, Alex Uribe creates sculptures exclusively from recycled, corrugated cardboard, both in large and small scale. Featured here are Uribe’s figurative, organic shapes, exploring abstract ideas rather than realism. Just as interesting are Uribe’s exposition of the female form as seen in Koura, Lucia, and Jodi.

Sylvie Reno

(source: Sylvie Reno)

Forty Kalashnikovs in 15 days, by hand, would be a daunting task for most people. She is not afraid, or angry, or bitter, for Sylvie Reno it’s just another day in her studio. She does, however, find relief in her compulsion and obsession with installations consisting mostly of repetitive work. Dozens of Kalashnikovs, a handful of automatic pistols, and more knives than Dexter will ever need, she says she has no imagination, we think she’s not being entirely honest.

Mark Langan

(sources: Mark Langan, Inhabitat)

Looking at the beautifully complex pieces above, we would never have guessed that Langan’s exposure to corrugated cardboard art was purely accidental. Tearing apart some old cardboard boxes, Langan saw the beautifully corrugated innards of the boxes and thought to himself, “…if I were to slice, stack, and glue pieces to each other, some very interesting effects could be created.” With over 15 finished works (and counting) and the seemingly impossible intricacy of his work, there is no wonder he is one of the most popular and well-respected artists of his type.

Dag Weiser

(source: Dag Weiser)

Unlike many of the other artists and sculptors listed here, Dag Weiser doesn’t work exclusively with cardboard. He has works in oil painting on canvas, pastel, ink, bronze, and recycled art from found objects. Weiser’s fascination with cardboard is a relatively recent one. Since he started working with cardboard, however, he has worked on extensive installations and elaborate props and sets. Above is a 1983 installation for a neighborhood Halloween trick-or-treat celebration.

Chris Gilmour

(source: Chris Gilmour)

In contrast to Alex Uribe’s abstract, nature-inspired, organic sculptures, Gilmour’s work is more geometric and usually consists of popular manufactured goods recognizable by the average person. It is also notable that Gilmour uses colored cardboard or paints the final piece to complete the transformation from a piece of cardboard to a finished product.