“Shirts and Hangers” by Mark Reynolds (via Saatchi Art)

The Patience of Ordinary Things

The Patience of Ordinary Things It is a kind of love, is it not? / How the cup holds the tea, / How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare, /...

A Decadent Girl by Ramón Casas

The Art of Fin de siècle

The Art of Fin de siècle There are few terms in cultural history that I have found more challenging to understand than “fin de siècle”. It has a strong component...

It has been found that travel imagery significantly impacts imagination by allowing individuals to vividly picture themselves in new environments, stimulating mental simulations of potential experiences, essentially acting as a catalyst for dreaming up new adventures and perspectives. (Credit: StockCake)

The Impact of Travel Documentaries on the Creative Imagination   Last year, I discovered the YouTube channel TRACKS – Travel Documentaries that covers it all “from the freezing ice caps...

Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy by User “Stavros Argiropoulos”, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

The Aesthetics of Cities

The Aesthetics and purpose of Cities I think it was in 2016 that I first began thinking of “cities”—by then I had lived in and briefly visited multiple, very different...

There are jokes online on how a goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds. (Credit: Pixabay)

Cultivating Empathy in Children through Cultural Education     Recently, I found myself getting extremely disturbed by two pieces of news related to children and adolescents. Generally, we feel bad...

From “Carpet Interiors” by Farid Rasulov

Contemporary Art from the Caucasus

Contemporary Art from the Caucasus Art from the Caucasus. Descriptions of the Caucasus—the region including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and a bit of Russia—frequently mention the word “crossroads”…of civilisations, of empires....

A Scene from the Play "Yotsuya Kaidan" (1836) by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), ukiyo-e.org.

The Ghosts of Japanese Folklore A close friend of mine, whom I met in Bangkok, has always been too interested in ghosts—their stories, also in mysterious techniques by which contact...

The encouragement of beauty, intuitiveness and relaxedness—qualities represented by the feminine principle—keeps the masculine in check. (Credit: Pixabay)

Masculine and Feminine Energies in Self and Society I have spent a lot of time reflecting on “the masculine” and “the feminine”—and several YouTubers have given me valuable insights on...

“The Lady and the Unicorn: À mon seul désir” (c. 1500), Musée de Cluny-Musée National du Moyen Âge, Paris.

Medieval European Artistic Objects

Medieval European Artistic Objects   While swiftly going through Western art history in college, I found that different periods—ancient, medieval, Renaissance, modern and contemporary—made certain immediate and general impressions on...

The post-decluttering state of bliss and peace is real. (Credit: Pixabay)

Last year, I wrote about the importance of decluttering—how it gives you a sense of control over your environment. This January, I found myself taking the practice to another level....

Landscape by Hector Hyppolite (1894–1948).

Looking at Haitian Art

A few years ago, I came across a Haitian art exhibition titled “Kafou: Haiti, Art and Vodou” (from 2012-2013) at Nottingham Contemporary, UK, and was instantly drawn to the strangeness...

Images from “Soviet Space Graphics: Cosmic Visions from the USSR” (2020)

The Grand Visions of Soviet Sci-Fi Art

Many of us are aware of the Soviet Union’s space programme, and have probably heard the names of Yuri Gagarin, Valentina Tereshkova and Laika. A richly illustrated book of Soviet...

I stumbled upon the work of Detroit based artist Marcus Glenn last month and was instantly drawn to his paintings of people viewing paintings in art galleries. I liked how...

Handling Too Many Creative Ideas

Too Many Ideas Syndrome” (TMIS) is supposedly a real phenomenon and the subject of many discussions online. (Credit: Pixabay) When I was 13, my mum bought me an amazing thesaurus...

 Chaekgeori, the Scholar’s Accoutrements. Late 18th to early 19th-century Korea, The Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea.   Some time ago, while searching for Korean art history I...

Art and Catharsis

  For more than a year now, I have been regularly watching an unusually prolific Indian YouTuber named Ranveer Allahbadia (@BeerBiceps) and enjoying his conversations with guests who may be...

DIY Home Décor Ideas

Recently, I resolved to add “Decluttering” to my daily task list, meaning that every single day I discard something I do not need or organise better something I do need....

Masks in African Art

  When I think of African art in the broadest sense, I immediately imagine masks—belonging to old communities living upon scorched earth or in dense jungles, masks used in rituals...