The unintentional image in a “Year of the Monkey” poster

Click the image to see the source.

Chinese New Year begins tomorrow, Monday February 8th, and it’s already poised to start with bang, if the posted above is any indication.

All artist Lehu Zhang meant to do was take a minimalist approach when he created his 2016: Year of the Monkey poster. Using basic shapes and negative space, he created the image above, which does evoke the image of a monkey…and something else as well.

@gveks “That’s no Monkey” pic.twitter.com/rfTjgQpLFF

— Scott E. Severs (@ScottESevers) February 6, 2016

@gveks @advocaatvduivel I see things but a monkey ain’t one of them 😱

— Wendy (@troetje) February 6, 2016

@troetje @gveks It’s more of a “The Year Of Spanking The Monkey” kinda image.

— Advocaat vd Duivel (@advocaatvduivel) February 6, 2016

Here’s the (ahem) money shot from a Buzzfeed interview with Zhang:

Zhang acknowledged that he can now see “some sexual things” in the work, but swears he didn’t intend that. “I’m not angry,” he told BuzzFeed News. “I’m just a little bit surprised, a little bit worried.”

I suppose that like the Twitter developer who’s too busy making the Twitter app to actually use it, Zhang’s a little too close to his art to see the image that other people see.