Unlikely Objects from the Bizarre Imagination of an Italian Artist

Even Polyphemus the Cyclops needs sunglasses. Just because Polyphemus doesn't exist shouldn't stop us from dreaming up eyewear for him. That's what Italian artist Giuseppe Colarusso appears to be suggesting in one of the images from his ongoing series of reality-defying Improbabilita. The uniting theme of all the 50+ whacky visual concepts in this project? Unlikelihood.

Sourced entirely from Colarusso's skewed yet strangely logical imagination, his bizarre inventions aim to draw a double-take from the viewer. At first glance these might be real things — until your improbability reflex kicks in. How about a set of cutlery with limp rope handles that totally negate their functionality? A sink without a plughole? Dice denuded of their dots? A hieroglyphics computer keyboard? A mix of real-life construction and Photoshopping, there are over 50 such concepts live on Colarusso's very entertaining website.

Each item is easily worthy of the International Chindogu Society — chindogu being, of course, the Japanese art of the 'un-useless invention', a tradition which over the years has brought us such hilarious ingenuities as the butter gluestick. Funnily enough, like chindogu, Colarusso's surreal images more often than not raise the question of "Why doesn't this exist?" If you stop and think of the physical logistics of such a thing — for example, spaghetti in an ice cream cone — during that whimsical moment of pause before you realise why the object's existence is totally unlikely, for the briefest fraction of a second there, it's likely.

Via Colossal.