In one of his satirical poems, Voltaire wrote, “Illusion is the first of all pleasures.” The photo manipulations created by the Malaysia-based digital artist Zulkarnian Ismail—a zebra’s stripes stretched open like a Slinky; a pack of huskies pulling a surfer inside the barrel of a wave—are akin to a magician’s flourish, converting the image from something firmly realistic to startlingly illusionary, all in the time it takes for a viewer to blink. —J.V.