Here’s my first ambigram of the year: 32 = 99 – 1 – 66. The equality holds even when you flip the image below upside down! The next step is to do the same with the number 23 — any ideas?
⇨ More number facts.
32, numerical ambigram
Perception
When Orient Meets Occident: The Buddhist and Christian Parables
The Buddhist parable of the man hanging from a cliff and the Christian legend of “Barlaam and Josaphat” both explore human vulnerability, the impermanence of life, and fleeting pleasures. Despite different contexts, they share profound philosophical insights.
The Buddhist Parable
A man chased by tigers falls off a cliff, clinging to a fragile root. Facing death above and below, he notices a ripe strawberry. Ignoring danger, he tastes it, savoring the present moment. The strawberry symbolizes mindfulness and the beauty of the present despite life’s dangers.
The Christian Legend
In the medieval Christian story, a man chased by a unicorn falls into a pit, holding onto a branch. A dragon waits below, while two mice—one black, one white, symbolizing night and day—gnaw at the root. Drawn by the sweetness of honey dripping nearby, he forgets the danger beneath. The honey represents worldly pleasures that distract from spiritual awareness.
Key Similarities
– Life’s Fragility: Both stories depict imminent danger, emphasizing life’s precariousness and impermanence.
– Fleeting Pleasures: The strawberry and honey symbolize temporary sensory pleasures.
– Impermanence: The mice in the Christian tale echo the passing of time, a theme also present in the Buddhist view.
Key Differences
– Buddhist Perspective: Focuses on mindfulness and present awareness.
– Christian Perspective: Warns against worldly distractions from spiritual truth.
Both parables emphasize life’s fragility and the tension between danger and fleeting pleasures. They offer timeless reflections on mindfulness and the importance of spiritual awareness.
But how is art connected to these stories? Both explore how perception shapes our experience of life. What we focus on—whether a ripe berry, a drop of honey, or a striking pattern—can define our reality, revealing beauty or reflecting deeper truths.
These parables also show the importance of context. In the East, strawberries symbolize sweetness, while in the West—especially during medieval times—it was honey. The sources of fear also differ: in the East, tigers have long been feared, and this legacy endures today. In the West, storytellers created mythical creatures to inspire fear, since real animals like bears and wolves, though dangerous, typically keep their distance from humans, making them seem less threatening than imagined monsters.
Beauty, Brains, and Charisma
Beauty’s been a big deal since ancient Greece, where καλὸς κἀγαθός meant more than just a pretty face. It was the ultimate combo: good looks, brains, and virtue. For the Greeks, this wasn’t just a nice idea—it was how they judged your worth.
Fast forward to now, and beauty is still treated as a golden ticket. If you’re not exactly a head-turner but you’ve made it, chances are you’re pretty smart… Sure, beauty often gets written off as superficial, but Aristotle wasn’t wrong when he said, “Beauty speaks louder than any introduction.” Let’s be honest: good looks are a serious social advantage. People treat you better, offer more opportunities, and generally give you a leg up—whether you’re in school, at work, or even in court. Plus, fairy tales and society are pretty obsessed with tying beauty to success. Studies show that attractive people even get a better deal in the justice system.
But here’s the twist: if a guy who’s no Greek god succeeds, people assume he’s smart. If it’s a woman, they’ll say she’s got “character.” Funny how that works, right?
Luckily, looks fade, and that’s when real beauty shows up in unexpected ways. As Shakespeare said in A Midsummer Night’s Dream: “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.”
Beauty’s a gift you didn’t have to work for. Intelligence, though? That’s earned, much like how a pearl forms in an oyster in response to a parasitic intruder. Life’s challenges are what shape and refine your smarts, one obstacle at a time.
So, sure, beauty’s nice—but it can also be a bit of a double-edged sword. What really counts—whether you’re a looker or not—is CHARISMA. It’s not something you’re born with, but something you build over time. Only the truly determined, the ones who know what they want, actually get it.
Mystic Flying Bat
Mystic Flying Bat is a mixed-media artwork I created back in 2010. It was the starting point for a series of pieces in a similar style, some of which I screen-printed using different color palettes. With this work, I wanted to invite viewers to think about an intriguing question: What is movement?
What makes this kinoptic artwork special is the way it creates the illusion of motion. As you look at it, the black bat seems to flutter, expand, or shift. But here’s the fascinating part—if you stare at it long enough and then close your eyes, a white bat will appear in your mind!
Kinoptic designs, like this one, play with our perception, making still images feel alive. It’s all about the clever use of contrasting colors and the precise arrangement of shapes.
Curious about how to create something like this yourself? I’ve put together a tutorial you can check out.
If you’d like to own a print or canvas of Mystic Flying Bat, you can find them here.
Hypnotic Disc
Take a moment to focus on the circular pattern. How many spirals do you see? The surprising answer is none. There are no spirals here—just alternating black and yellow discs, slightly off-center and layered to create a striking illusion of swirling depth and motion.
I began crafting pieces like this in the early ’90s, drawing inspiration from Duchamp’s Rotoreliefs. I was captivated by how simple rotation could deceive the eye, inviting the viewer into a world of optical illusions. It’s a unique experience—seeing motion and depth in something entirely flat, both puzzling and mesmerizing.
This op art pattern comes to life across various mediums and transforms into artistic expressions on different objects. In my online gallery, you’ll find art prints and everyday items featuring this work, all available for purchase.
Gliding Patterns: The Anomalous Motion Illusion
Let your gaze wander across the image below. Do the shapes in the first and third rows seem to subtly shift leftward, while the second and fourth rows appear to glide rightward?
Now, let your gaze wander across the image below. Do the concentric circles appear to subtly counter-rotate?
Why do these static images appear to move? This perceptual phenomenon, known as “anomalous motion” or “peripheral drift illusion”, results from the interplay of color contrast, luminance, and eye movements. It occurs due to a sawtooth luminance grating in the visual periphery, where a sequence of contrasting colors transitions from light to dark. The speed of the perceived motion is influenced by the frequency of microsaccadic eye movements.
In the 1990s, I began creating many of these fascinating images, experimenting with patterns and contrasts to bring this mesmerizing effect to life.
Fine art prints and merchandise of these mesmerizing pieces are available in my online gallery—a perfect addition to any space!
Paradossal… Mente!
Sabato 21 dicembre ti aspettiamo alla Mostra delle Illusioni di Genova per “Paradossal…mente“, il laboratorio interattivo sulla percezione visiva che ho ideato e che guiderò personalmente. Non mancare!
I partecipanti saranno attivamente coinvolti in esperienze che mettono alla prova le percezioni: scopriranno illusioni ottiche inedite, creeranno giochi percettivi sconcertanti e indagheranno vari paradossi e misteri della mente e del sistema visivo. Ogni esperienza invita a riflettere su come il cervello può “ingannarci” o lasciarsi influenzare da ciò che lo circonda
Durata del laboratorio: 1 ora circaIl Materiale per il laboratorio creativo sarà fornito direttamente dalla Mostra delle Illusioni.
🔹APPUNTAMENTI:
🔸1 TURNO ORE 14:30
🔸2 TURNO ORE 15:30
🔸3 TURNO ORE 16:30
🔹QUOTA LABORATORIO:
ADULTO (18+): 20€
BAMBINO (8-17): 15€
🔹QUOTA LABORATORIO + MOSTRA:
ADULTO (18+): 30€
BAMBINO (8-17): 25€
🤩 Portate con voi la vostra curiosità…al resto ci pensiamo noi!
📍 Dove
Magazzini del Cotone – Modulo 1, Porto Antico di Genova
✅ Prenota al numero: 389-5540263 oppure scrivi a: mostragenova@lamostradelleillusioni.com
Suggestive Minimalism
Draw me a human with just two short, symmetrical curved lines…
In 2012, Lebanese artist Huguette Caland took part in the group show Le corps découvert at the ‘Institut du Monde Arabe’ in Paris. One of her works, Self Portrait (1973)—a petal-pink field humorously cracked by a darker pink, revealing an up-close rear view of a classical nude—was featured on the catalog cover. She also presented whimsical, playful line drawings of breasts, lashes, eyes, lips, noses—noses?—as though lifted from a secret, sensual notebook of an untroubled Shel Silverstein. A sign in the hall restricted entry to those over eighteen… Who knows why, for such innocent visual plays?
Perspective Optical Illusions: The art of circling the square
When bending the sides of a square structure forward, each edge forming a sine wave shape, the structure reveals a circle when viewed from the reverse angle. This illusion plays with perspective, specifically utilizing an effect known as “anamorphosis“.
Anamorphosis refers to a artistic technique that uses perspective to create distorted images that can only be viewed correctly from a specific angle.
Layering Up: A Creative Look at AI
Ever wondered how Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) process images? Imagine putting a photo through a pasta machine… TWICE! This creative experiment, inspired by artist Kensuke Koike, demonstrates how CNNs break down data into smaller, layered features, just like the pasta machine creates four clear images from a single input.