His greatest passion, drawing, started as a hobby. Flavio Apel, born in Italy and also half German, is currently one of the artists permanently displayed at the Gallery Rasch in the palace and park-filled city of Kassel in Germany. His hyperrealistic eye drawings have captured the attention of offline and online viewers, as they are painstakingly rendered in pencil on paper—taking him from 20 to 150 hours to complete each. “Only two eyes are from strangers. The other eyes are from people I know very well,” he says and points out that the iris shown above is actually “of my [his] oculist’s, which is pretty ironic.” He won’t be sketching anymore eyes as his focus has shifted to experimental artworks related with empty spaces and tableware.

All images courtesy of and © Flavio Apel.