I love this 1962 photograph by Chinese photographer Wang Shuangquan 王双全 (1920-1978). It depicts the beautiful and bizarre eyeball signs that surround the entrance to an ophthalmology clinic in Tainan City, Taiwan.

Isn’t there something weirdly flirty about those hand-painted eyes trying to lure in new customers?

I think the jumble of eyes also makes the building look a bit monstrous, like a creature staring off in different directions. Can you imagine walking by this shop everyday and feeling all of those big eyes looking right at you, no matter which direction you went?

It’s too bad that eye doctors don’t still advertise this way. I suppose it’s because those big, strange eyes are better at making me think about monsters than they are at reminding me to get my eyes checked…