A video showcasing a piece of street art in Japan has left viewers in “absolute awe.”
On December 11, TikTok user @madeleineandren shared the clip, which has since amassed 3.6 million views. According to the video’s caption, the poster captured the artwork in Tokyo, and text overlaid on the clip said, “I saw this balloon while walking.”
Newsweek has contacted @madeleineandren for comment via TikTok. This video has not been independently verified.
In the video, the camera approaches a giant balloon in the shape of the number five that appears to be floating against a wall near a street corner.
As the camera gets closer to the balloon, a hand reaches out to touch it, which shows that the balloon is painted onto the wall. “Looks so real,” text overlaid on the clip said.
“Best street art I’ve ever seen,” the poster said in the video’s caption, adding in a later comment that they spotted the artwork “next to a place called BEEFMAN’BAR.”
A signature In the bottom right corner of the wall below the balloon art suggests it’s the work of an artist known as Fanakapan. According to the artist’s Instagram page, the “high five” 3D-style balloon pieces have also been featured in Bangkok and Bali.
A September 2022 study in Social Semiotics said, “The last decades have seen the ideological transformations of graffiti and street art once constructed as criminal acts and associated with urban decay to being acceptable and profitable forms of commercial art.”
The study added, “The spaces and places where these art forms are found have long transcended streets to art galleries and corporate advertising billboards and campaigns,” making them “the most visible forms of global urban culture and urban transgression.”
The global anti-graffiti coatings market is projected to reach $180.9 million by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 3.8 percent from 2024 to 2030, according to a report by Grand View Research, a market research firm and consulting company headquartered in San Francisco.
“The market growth is attributed to the increasing regulations regarding the prevention of graffiti vandalization and growing adoption in the transportation and construction industries,” the report said.
‘I’m in Absolute Awe’
Viewers on TikTok were amazed by the artwork showcased in the viral clip, with one writing, “That is actually legit insane.”
“I’m in absolute awe never have I ever seen anything like this before,” another added.
“Wow that’s incredible, that would leave me tripped out if I saw that in person. I’m tripping out just from this video,” a commenter said.
Another wrote, “My brain refusing to accept the fact that it’s not real so I keep watching to convince it.”
“I wasn’t impressed at first but then you went closer,” a user wrote, while another said, “The way I thought it was real up to the very end.”
“That is pure art,” another added. “So satisfying and inspiring.”
A stock image of graffiti on a wall in Tokyo. A video showing an optical illusion in the city has gone viral on TikTok.
iStock / Getty Images Plus
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