An artist has helped a man with his marriage proposal to his girlfriend after transforming them both into 2D works of art using paint in a mind-boggling optical illusion that makes the couple appear as a two-dimensional moving portrait.
Artist Alexa Meade was helping her friend Dan Levine propose to his girlfriend of nearly seven years, Cristina Cordova. To keep the marriage proposal a surprise, Levine convinced Cordova that a photo shoot would be a fun thing to do, using the street art of their home city of San Francisco as their backdrops. Only the artist and her assistant knew about the proposal.
The painting process and photo shoot took nearly two days with the soon-to-be wedded couple dressed in black clothes that Meade had altered with acrylic paint for the project. Meade then gave Cordova a black wig and began painting this and then directly onto the parts of her body that remained exposed with the same paint. Meade even managed to covertly paint a shadow on Cordova’s ring finger during the painting process. Levine received the same treatment, with the couple transformed into two-dimensional works of art ready to be photographed in front of street art.
The couple and the group of friends Levine had invited along, but who knew nothing about the planned marriage proposal, gathered a few strangers as spectators on their photo-shoot walk.
At the end of the shoot, the couple was captured on video posing on the floor in front of a wall reading 'New Mural Soon'. Then Meade asked Cordova to stand up, giving Levine a chance to pull the ring from his jacket pocket and pull himself up to one knee. You can hear the reaction from the friends as they register what is about to happen.
Cordova, unaware that Levine is wanting to propose, finally looks over and jokingly shoves him in disbelief as she realizes what is happening and the crowd of their friends and some strangers can be heard cheering in the background. Cordova then takes the ring and kneels down to kiss her soon-to-be husband as she says yes.
The entire experience, from walking the streets in the location search to the taking of final photographs was all captured on video. And a final photograph was taken of the couple, the crew and all their friends.
Meade, who has been refining her unique craft for the last seven years, admitted creating 2D works of art was the most challenging task she had taken on to date. “I had never done anything like this before, but I instantly knew that I wanted to say 'yes’. She continued, “You’re never 100 percent sure if that other person is going to say ‘yes’, so there was room for butterflies, but it was a beautiful experience to share in the magic of the couple's love”
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