Jim Denevan, Sand Drawing, c. 2010

With a shadowy suited figure standing in its midst, this pleasingly patterned image could almost be a painting by  René Magritte. But, in fact, it’s a giant sand drawing, carried out by American artist Jim Denevan on the shores of Santa Cruz. The California native began creating artworks in the sand in the 1990s when his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. “To get out every day and to lose a drawing that’s a mile across every time — it’s a great fight,” he told Frame magazine of the cathartic process. Remarkably, all of Denevan’s works are improvised: he simply starts at a centre point and works his way outwards.