Meet Ryan Burke, the makeup artist and self-portraitist from small-town Virginia who’s blowing up big in New York as an ambassador for the legendary UK makeup artist Pat McGrath.

An Instagram sensation, Burke fashions face art out of little more than found objects, provocatively placed pigment, and an exquisitely fertile imagination. His otherworldly personas typically resemble glammed-up sci-fi unrelated to any particular culture or gender. He’s a new-gen Leigh Bowery who defies description; take a look for yourself…