When it comes to pushing the envelope of creativity, 10 artists insanely are redefining what art can be. From using office software as a canvas to employing the most intimate parts of the body as brushes, these creators turn the ordinary into the extraordinary, often leaving viewers alternating between awe and disbelief.
10 Artists Insanely Showcase Unconventional Techniques
10 Tatsuo Horiuchi Draws With Microsoft Excel
When most people hear “Microsoft Excel,” they picture rows of numbers and dull charts. Japanese artist Tatsuo Horiuchi flips that expectation on its head, turning the spreadsheet program into his personal drawing studio.
Horiuchi only discovered Excel’s artistic potential as he neared retirement, having never opened the program before. He watched coworkers craft colorful graphs and thought, “Why not use these vibrant cells to sketch?” The idea stuck, and he began crafting intricate pieces entirely within Excel’s grid.
He rejected pricey graphic software, noting that Excel came pre‑installed on Windows and was essentially free. Today, Horiuchi boasts a portfolio of astonishing Excel artworks, insisting the tool feels more intuitive to him than even Microsoft Paint.
9 Tim Patch Paints With His Penis
Australian performer Tim Patch, better known by his moniker “Pricasso,” has taken the phrase “painting with a brush” to a literal—and very literal—extreme, using his penis as the instrument.
The inspiration struck at a Christmas party, where Patch realized no one else had tried such a method. A quick internet search confirmed his hunch, and he set out to make his mark—quite literally—on the canvas world.
Initially, he dipped his member directly into acrylic paint, but the rough canvas proved uncomfortable. These days he mixes the paint with petroleum jelly, creating a smoother medium that lets his unique brush glide across the surface without irritation.
8 Martin Von Ostrowski Paints With Poop And Semen
German provocateur Martin von Ostrowski has built a reputation for using his own bodily fluids—specifically feces and semen—as pigments, producing portraits that shock and intrigue in equal measure.
His first headline‑making work was a portrait of Adolf Hitler rendered entirely from his own poop. He later tackled other historical German figures, including Friedrich the Great, Otto von Bismarck, and Kaiser Wilhelm II, each painted with the same unconventional medium.
Ostrowski’s fascination with semen began after observing an anonymous 1988 oil painting that featured ejaculatory marks. Rather than mimic the original artist’s on‑canvas act, he chose to masturbate, freeze his semen, and use it as paint. He estimates that between 2003 and 2008 he needed over 1,000 orgasms, with roughly 40 ejaculations required for a single portrait. The Berlin Gay Museum once noted that the dried semen’s scent could evoke sexual responses in viewers, but Ostrowski insists his approach is simply “organic.”
7 Milo Moire Paints With Her Vagina
Performance artist Milo Moire has taken the concept of “painting with the body” to a new level, employing her vagina as the primary tool in a practice she calls PlopEgg painting.
Moire inserts small, ink‑filled eggs into her vagina, then positions herself over a canvas and releases the eggs, which burst on impact, creating a vivid splash effect. One of her noted works, The PlopEgg Painting Performance #1—A Birth Of A Picture, showcases this striking technique.
While Moire frames the practice as a feminist statement, reactions have been mixed. Jezebel praised it as “the best advertisement you’ll ever see for Kegel exercises,” whereas The Guardian dismissed it as “silly” and labeled it a “joke,” suggesting the piece was more a desperate bid for attention than a genuine artistic statement.
6 Uwe Max Jensen Also Paints With His Penis
Danish creator Uwe Max Jensen isn’t shy about using his genitals as a painting tool, following in the footsteps of Australian artist Tim Patch.
Jensen’s most talked‑about piece recreates Kim Kardashian’s iconic “Break the Internet” photograph, where she famously displayed her bare backside. He achieved this by dipping his penis in acrylic paint and pressing it directly onto the canvas, noting that a larger organ allows for finer detail work.
In an interview with The Daily Dot, Jensen explained that the Kardashian portrait was his second penis‑based artwork; the first depicted a Danish male politician. He gifted the political portrait to a friend and sent a photo to the politician via Facebook, who promptly blocked him. Beyond his genital brushwork, Jensen has also gained notoriety for vandalizing a Little Mermaid statue and urinating into a museum water sculpture.
5 Graham Fink Draws With His Eyes
Graham Fink creates drawings solely with the movement of his eyes, guided by custom software that translates ocular motion into on‑screen lines.
Working with a programmer, Fink set up a system that shines two infrared lights into his eyes while a camera tracks their movement. The software then smooths the captured motion into visible lines on his computer, producing a drawing in real time.
This method demands intense concentration: the artist must maintain uninterrupted eye contact, as breaking the gaze would halt the portrait. Fink cannot erase any strokes, and depending on his focus, a single piece can take anywhere from five minutes to an hour to complete.
4 Ian Sklarsky Draws With A Single Line And Doesn’t Look At His Artwork
Ian Sklarsky practices blind contour drawing, a technique that forces the artist to sketch without ever looking at the paper until the piece is finished.
He’s been honing this skill since childhood, often setting up a portable station at bars and events where he creates one‑line portraits for curious onlookers. Each drawing typically takes about seven minutes, after which he may add color once he finally glances at his work.
3 Steven Spazuk Paints With Fire
While most artists keep flames at a safe distance, Steven Spazuk embraces fire as a core component of his creative process, employing the soot it generates rather than the flame itself.
This technique, known as fumage, has historical roots that trace back to early cave painters. Spazuk positions his canvas directly above a candle or blowtorch, allowing soot to rise and settle onto the paper, forming dark, spontaneous outlines.
After the soot pattern appears, he refines the image using pencils, feathers, or occasional acrylic accents, carefully balancing the distance to avoid igniting the paper while still capturing enough soot for a clear imprint.
Spazuk’s inspiration came from a vivid dream where he wandered through a gallery drenched in black‑and‑white soot after a fire. Initial experiments saw the paper burn, prompting him to switch to thicker cardboard, which finally withstood the soot‑laden environment.
The result is a haunting blend of accidental charcoal‑like markings and deliberate artistic intervention, producing pieces that feel both primal and meticulously crafted.
2 John Bramblitt Paints Despite Being Blind
John Bramblitt defied expectations by becoming a prolific painter after losing his sight at age 30 due to complications from epilepsy.
Plunged into deep depression following his blindness, Bramblitt discovered painting as a therapeutic outlet. He creates his works by feeling the contours of his own sketches, using his fingertips to trace outlines, and discerning colors by their tactile texture.
Even portraiture isn’t out of reach: Bramblitt feels a subject’s facial features, forming a mental map that guides his hand as he translates touch into vivid, colorful representations on canvas.
1 Katsu Draws With Drones And His Poop
Graffiti’s cat‑and‑mouse game just got a high‑tech upgrade thanks to Katsu, an anonymous street artist who pioneered “drone graffiti” by attaching a spray can to a DJI Phantom and soaring it onto a six‑story billboard of Kendall Jenner in Manhattan’s SoHo.
Beyond aerial vandalism, Katsu earned notoriety for a grotesque portrait of Mark Zuckerberg rendered entirely with his own feces. A fan of Thai cuisine, he deliberately consumed large meals before the act, ensuring a substantial output.
To achieve the portrait, Katsu filled a container with his excrement, using a mirror to verify the material’s flow. He then meticulously drew Zuckerberg’s likeness, treating his poop like a pencil.
Given the obvious mess, Katsu switched gloves frequently, donned a respirator, and burned incense to mask the odor. He notes that the high moisture content of feces makes it a tricky medium, prone to smearing and damaging the canvas.