Olympics Choreographer Says His Crayon Paintings Reveal Faces From 'Another Dimension'

It's the goal of every artist to have people view their paintings, but what happens when the paintings start watching you?

It sounds bizarre, but crayon artist Doug Jack says that for the past few months, mysterious faces have been showing up in his paintings and staring at him.

The faces aren't intentional. Jack says they pop up inexplicably in his works, which he creates by melting crayons on pieces of glass with a torch using MAPP gas and a lazy Susan.

"Two months back, I started using a new technique where I score the crayons before melting them," Jack told AOL News. "The color blending is fascinating, but then I started noticing distinct images such as two eyes, lips, nose and a body line."

This was especially significant to Jack because of his past.

Before he started creating art 2 1/2 years ago, Jack was considered one of the pre-eminent "stadium artists" in the world, and his specialty was choreographing the giant shows seen at sporting events like the Super Bowl and the Olympics.

In fact, he has directed/choreographed six Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, seven Super Bowl halftime shows and a World Cup field show, and he even won an Emmy in 2002 for his work at the Salt Lake City Olympics.

As such, he says he has developed an eye for two things: creating order out of chaos and the ability to read a body line.

"The body line is the silhouette, and I can read joy or sadness in a body," he said. "So when I started seeing silhouettes and vignettes of people, I knew I was on to something."

Take careful note: Jack said "on to something," not "on something." ...

Meanwhile, New York-based psychologist Dr. Joseph Cilona, who has never spoken or treated Jack, says that, generally, someone who sees meaning and significance like a face or other recognizable objects or figures in an apparently random pattern could have a condition known as apophenia.

"The critical issue here is that there is no readily identifiable meaning in the pattern or stimuli," he said. "A type of apophenia know as 'pareidolia' often refers to seeing familiar images like faces or figures in a vague or random stimulus like a cloud or, in this case, abstract art."

Although the presence of apophenia is sometimes considered an indicator of some mental illness or brain injury, Cilona says apophenia and pareidolia are often an indicator of someone who is extremely creative.

via Olympics Choreographer Says His Crayon Paintings Reveal Faces From 'Another Dimension'.