Artist Alea Pınar Du Pre creates captivating portraits of women that resemble the slightly distorted faces you might see on an old TV screen. The mesmerizing illusion comes from the artist’s unique technique—Du Pre uses thick lines of paint applied with a cake piper, giving her work a textured effect that almost looks pixelated.
Through her paintings, Du Pre aims to explore how our perception of reality is as fluid and changeable as our own thoughts. She blends different materials and inspirations, combining the artificial feel of digital art with a figurative style that represents a distorted view of everyday life.
“I love playing around with materials,” Du Pre tells My Modern Met. “I love incorporating non-art materials in creating, it’s a playful approach that always opens doors to create techniques and styles that are original and truly mine.”
In her latest work, Du Pre takes a more tactile approach with acrylic paint, moving away from traditional paintbrush techniques. “I tried several approaches and came up with the idea to use cake piping,” she recalls. “It took me a while to be a very meticulous ‘cake piper,’ since obviously the utensils are not made for millimetric work like mine. But in time and with a lot of trial and errors and practice, my lines became more and more refined.”
Now a master of her signature style, Du Pre skillfully uses varying line heights to paint the shadows and highlights of her subjects’ faces. Each line is meticulously piped by hand with total accuracy, creating a striking effect that resembles digital pixels or the shimmering surface of a holographic card.
Up close, viewers can admire the intricate details of the piped paint lines, but it’s only when you step back that the full image truly comes to life. The optical effect transforms the seemingly abstract lines into lifelike portraits, where facial features and geometric patterns emerge. Du Pre describes it as “a light play that’s impossible to capture in photos.”
Check out some of the artist’s fascinating paintings below and keep up to date with her work by following Alea Pınar Du Pre on Instagram.
Artist Alea Pınar Du Pre uses acrylic paint and a cake piping technique to render her incredible portraits of women.
Each textured piece creates a striking effect that resembles digital pixels or the shimmering surface of a holographic card.
Du Pre skillfully uses varying line heights and widths to paint the shadows and highlights of her subjects’ faces.
The carefully piped lines come together to form lifelike portraits as viewers step back, creating a mesmerizing optical illusion.
Watch the artist demonstrate her unique technique.
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Alea Pınar Du Pre: Website | Facebook | Instagram
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Alea Pınar Du Pre.
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