Whose Face Is in the Sky Over Japan?

There’s a giant face floating over Japan. It’s a balloon installation, and it comes courtesy of the Utsunomiya Museum of Art and an art collective called Me.

According to Vice, in order to choose a face, the artists set up a booth in a crowded North Tokyo street and asked people to submit their visages for consideration. A local elder was eventually chosen because one of the artists thought his face reminded her of one she’d seen in a dream when she was young.

The floating sculpture is thus called The Day an Ojisan’s Face Floated in the Sky. (Ojisan means “uncle” in Japanese).

Photo: Instagram/@ojisanumoa

Once the face was selected, the group spent two months meticulously painting Ben-Day dots onto the balloon’s rubbery surface, giving the piece a comic book effect. It took 67,000 dots to cover the 50-by-30 foot surface.

Predictably, the project has been a hit on social media, with several observers posting illusory images that make it look like they are holding the face in their hands. Who knew it was possible to make an art installation in the sky?

The ojisan made his high-flying debut on December 13, but is flying again this weekend for anyone who missed him the first time.