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Five Interesting Facts About The History of Art Basel

Gerda Krivaite
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Five Interesting Facts About The History of Art Basel

Art Basel has a pull like no other art fair in the world. It unites gallerists, artists, curators and anyone with a thirst for weird, lovely, mind-boggling art — there’s a real zest to the whole project. Certainly, the trade side is serious business: at the 2026 edition alone, 290 galleries from 43 countries sold work to collectors from over 100 countries, with individual sales running from five figures into the tens of millions. But beyond the price tags, Art Basel is a joyful, deeply thoughtful exploration of various artistic forms, from Zero10’s digital edge to the sprawling creative scale of Unlimited. It’s a world unlike anything you’ve seen before.

Here are five fascinating facts about the history of Art Basel.

1. It’s A 70s Invention

Art Basel was born in 1970, dreamed up by three Basel gallerists — Ernst Beyeler, Trudl Bruckner, and Balz Hilt — who wanted to build something for dealers, artists and collectors alike. Interestingly, the fair was partly a direct response to Kunstmarkt Köln (today’s Art Cologne), which had launched three years earlier but only allowed German galleries to take part. Basel’s founders craved something more international from the start. That ambition paid off quickly, with the very first edition bringing together 90 galleries and 30 publishers from 10 countries, and pulling in more than 16,000 visitors.

2. It spotted future art stars before they were famous

The 1980s marked an era when Art Basel really grew up, expanding its identity with new sectors like Art Forum, Film & Video and Perspective, reflecting how contemporary art was venturing  into new media. Launched in 1979 to showcase young, largely unknown artists, Perspective’s lineup included names like Tony Cragg, Julian Opie, and the duo Peter Fischli and David Weiss — all of whom would go on to become major figures in the contemporary art world. In other words, decades before they were museum staples, Art Basel had already placed a bet on them.

3. It used its platform to fight the AIDS crisis

By the early 1990s, Art Basel was using its influence for social impact. In 1991, the fair opened with Art Against AIDS, a benefit initiative that rallied galleries and artists around the fight against the epidemic at a time when the crisis was devastating communities worldwide and public response was lagging. This wasn’t an isolated gesture, though. The Canadian art collective General Idea had already created one of the era’s most iconic images for the cause a few years earlier, reworking Robert Indiana’s famous LOVE design so the letters spelled AIDS — an artistic piece that went on to appear on posters, stamps and public billboards across Europe and North America.

4. It created a sector with no booths, just space

In 2000, Art Basel took a step no other fair had tried before; it built an entire section with no booths at all. Housed in the newly constructed 16,000-square meter Hall 1, Unlimited was designed for art that couldn’t fit inside a normal fair stand. This included room-sized installations, colossal sculptures, wall-length paintings, video projections and live performances. Fascinatingly, the whole hall is curated as a single, continuous exhibition, so visitors walk through it more like a museum than a trade show. It’s since become one of the fair’s signature draws, hosting everything from a giant Ai Weiwei house-shaped installation to Yayoi Kusama‘s immersive mirrored environments.

5. It’s grown into an impressively global project

What started as one fair in one Swiss city has become a worldwide project. Art Basel expanded to Hong Kong in 2013, bringing it into the Asian art market, and later to Paris in 2022. Most recently, it made its Middle East debut with Art Basel Qatar, held in Doha in February 2026, marking its fifth flagship fair overall. The inaugural Qatar edition drew more than 17,000 visitors and brought together 87 galleries from 31 countries and territories, including 15 exhibiting with Art Basel for the very first time.

Bullion Announces New Album ‘Nearly’, Shares New Single ‘Francis Ford’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Bullion Announces New Album ‘Nearly’, Shares New Single ‘Francis Ford’

Bullion has announced a new album called Nearly. The follow-up to 2024’s Affection is set to arrive on September 25 via Ghostly International. Along with the news, the alt-pop artist has shared the gleaming lead single ‘Francis Ford’, featuring L Devine. Check it out below.

“This isn’t the record I intended to make,” Nathan Jenkins said of Nearly in press materials. Since his last album, he has co-written and produced Avalon Emerson & the Charm’s latest album, Written Into a Changes, adding to a run of credits that includes Carly Rae Jepsen, Nilüfer Yanya, Westerman, Ben Howard, the xx’s Oliver Sim, and more. In addition to another guest appearance from Devine, Nearly features instrumentation by Ethan P. Flynn.

Nearly Cover Artwork:

Nearly cover

Nearly Tracklist:

1. Very Few Inspirations
2. Roo
3. Francis Ford [feat. L Devine]
4. Ok Parsley
5. Young Shiver
6. Forget Performer
7. The Arm of Cinderella [feat. L Devine]
8. Applegene
9. I’m Not Hooligan
10. 101 Damnations

Fat Dog Announce New Album ‘Cancel Me (I’m Tired)’, Share New Song

Konstantinos Pappis
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Fat Dog Announce New Album ‘Cancel Me (I’m Tired)’, Share New Song

Fat Dog have announced their second album, amusingly titled Cancel Me (I’m Tired). The follow-up to 2024’s WOOF is set to arrive on October 2 via Domino. The throbbing title track, out today, was inspired by John Lennon’s ‘How Do You Sleep?’, according to a press release. Check out its James Winstanley-directed video below, and scroll down for the album’s cover art and tracklist.

Revisit our Artist Spotlight interview with Fat Dog.

Cancel Me (I’m Tired) Cover Artwork:

Fat Dog Cancel Me

Cancel Me (I’m Tired) Tracklist:

1. Smile and Wave
2. Go Fuck Urself
3. Cancel Me (I’m Tired)
4. Heart Of Darkness
5. Shit Love
6. Call It What You Want
7. Snakes
8. Bad Dog
9. The Devil
10. Aliens

Four Times Art Theft Changed History

Gerda Krivaite
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Four Times Art Theft Changed History

For as long as art collection has existed, so too has the impulse to steal it. The earliest well-documented case dates back to 70 BC, when Cicero prosecuted the Roman governor Gaius Verres for looting statues and treasures from Sicily. At times, the underlying motive has been money; at others, it has been conquest or simple opportunism.

Art theft has altered reputations and forced governments to confront uncomfortable questions about ownership and cultural identity. Indeed, a stolen painting can become more famous than it ever was on the wall of a gallery. The history of art is full of moments when a theft grew into something more monumental than a crime.

Here are four art thefts that left an imprint on history.

1. The Mona Lisa became the world’s most famous painting by disappearing

In August 1911, Mona Lisa vanished from the Louvre. Da Vinci’s portrait, which was admired greatly by artists and scholars alike, had not quite become the global icon we recognise today. Nonetheless, news of its disappearance spread across global newspapers, and crowds began visiting the museum to simply look at the empty space where it had once hung. Rumours multiplied at lightning speed, and even Pablo Picasso was questioned during the investigation.

The painting returned two years later after the thief, former Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia, attempted to sell it in Florence. By then, the theft had transformed its reputation. Reproductions circulated widely, journalists kept the story alive and the painting acquired an aura that no amount of critical acclaim could have created.

Portrait de Lisa Gherardini, épouse de Francesco del Giocondo, dite Monna Lisa, La Gioconda ou La Joconde.
Leonardo da Vinci – Musée du Louvre, Paris
Photo source: Wikimedia Commons

2. The Ghent Altarpiece became Europe’s most contested masterpiece

Few works of art have been pursued with the persistence of Jan van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece. Ever since the fifteenth century, specific panels have been sold, stolen, hidden and seized during war and carried across borders by occupying armies. Napoleon’s troops seized central panels to take them to the Louvre. During World War I, German forces tried to seize the side panels during the invasion of Belgium. After the Second World War, the altarpiece was recovered from the Altaussee salt mines in Austria, where thousands of artworks looted by the Nazi regime had been concealed as Allied forces advanced.

The altarpiece’s turbulent history mirrors that of Europe. Every theft reflected a struggle over power and cultural prestige. Possessing the work became a statement of political authority, and even today, one panel (The Just Judges) remains missing after its theft in 1934. Countless theories have emerged over the decades, though none has resolved one of the art world’s longest-running mysteries.

Jan van Eyck – The Ghent Altarpiece – Virgin Mary (detail). Photo source: Wikimedia Commons

3. The Gardner Museum theft changed how museums approach security

In the early hours of 18 March 1990, two men dressed as police officers arrived at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and convinced security guards to let them inside. By sunrise, thirteen works had disappeared, including paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer and Degas, altogether worth up to $500 million. More than three decades later, this theft remains the largest unsolved art heist in history.

The crime exposed a contradiction: galleries exist to make extraordinary objects accessible, yet this accessibility leaves them extremely vulnerable. The Gardner robbery prompted institutions around the world to reassess security, implementing upgraded motion detectors and stricter employee screening. Its influence extended beyond museum walls, too, shaping cooperation between law enforcement, insurers and international agencies that investigate cultural property crime. Fascinatingly, with the museum’s founder having dictated that the galleries’ arrangement should never be changed, the museum has kept the slashed frames of the stolen artworks hanging on the walls as symbols of hope.

Landscape with an Obelisk, Govaert Flinck, 1638, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Photo source: Wikimedia Commons

4. The Green Vault theft demonstrated no era is theft-proof

By 2019, many assumed that museum security had reached a point where spectacular art theft belonged to another era. The burglary at Dresden’s Green Vault, however, challenged that confidence. In the early hours of 25 November, thieves set fire to a switch box to cut the streetlights outside the museum, eventually slipping through a window whose bars had been cut and glued back into place days earlier to avoid suspicion. Inside, they smashed display cases with an axe and escaped within minutes, taking with them 21 pieces of eighteenth-century jewellery commissioned by Augustus the Strong, with more than 4,300 diamonds in total.

The Green Vault theft raised questions about how historic collections should be protected in an age of increasingly sophisticated organised crime, especially once investigators traced the raid to a Berlin crime family linked to a separate museum heist. Eventually, five men were convicted, and dozens of items were recovered through a plea deal in 2022. Nonetheless, several pieces, including one of the collection’s most celebrated diamonds, still remain missing.

DRESDEN, GERMANY – JULY 24, 2018: people walking near fountains and beautiful architecture of ancient Zwinger palace in Dresden, Germany — Stock Editorial Photography. Photo source: Deposit Photos

 

Smartest AI Tools for Image Upscaling

Prince Addams
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Smartest AI Tools for Image Upscaling

Around 8 billion people worldwide use smartphones. So, one might think that almost no one can’t take high-resolution photos. However, sometimes people still struggle with low-quality images. Maybe it’s an old product photo needed for a homepage banner. Perhaps a client wants print-ready assets from social media images. Or a concept image looked great until displayed on a larger screen. But even then, there’s no excuse for a low-resolution photo. AI tools for image upscaling are everywhere.

A recent Datareportal report showed that there are now over 6 billion internet users. So, accessing these online image upscalers is no longer the problem. It’s choosing the option that does more than stretch pixels. Analyzed patterns. Retained details. Improved edges. All five AI tools for image upscaling in this article deliver the features that help designers, marketers, and photographers.

Top Five Best AI Tools for Image Upscaling

Simfa

AI tools for image upscaling

Simfa is one of the newer players in the upscaling market. But creators can expect to use it to turn bad photos into images of crystal-clear quality. Using intelligent algorithms, Simfa analyzes even the smallest details to deliver precise, refined results. This tool also allows for fast processing workflows. Its simple interface keeps it easy to use for beginners. This ensures accessibility and cuts technical barriers. All while continuing to adapt visuals for different formats and campaigns through other features in its broader suite of AI tools.

Key Features:

  • Multiple file format support for flexible use cases
  • Increasing image resolution without losing visual detail
  • Creative assets for reuse across formats

Pricing:

  • Free Package
  • Starter Package – $15 per month
  • Plus Package – $23 per month
  • Simfa+ Package – $99 per month
  • Enterprise Package – Custom Pricing

Real Use Case:

Startup online sellers can maximize Simfa to save resources on costly shoots and time-consuming edits. With the tool’s upscaling feature, they can enhance visuals more easily. This enables content repurposing and more engaging Amazon, eBay, or Etsy listings.

Upscale Media

For a workflow focused on cutting editing friction, Upscale Media is among the must-try AI tools for image upscaling. It enlarges and enhances image resolution in seconds thanks to its deep learning algorithms. Casual users. Professionals. E-commerce teams. Anyone can use Upscale Media to upscale images up to 8x with speed and precision. It even supports scalability. This option includes bulk processing and API integration. No wrestling with complex settings. Users only need to upload, process, and upscale.

Key Features:

  • API integration for automation
  • Sharper texture, more defined edges, and more accurate tones
  • Support multiple file formats and batch transformation

Pricing:

  • Free Package
  • Subscription Package – $9.99 to $25.99 per month (depending on credits)
  • One-time Payment Package – $9.99 to $84.99 per month (depending on credits)

Real Use Case:

Upscale Media matches how modern homebuyers decide when searching for options. So real estate agents can use it to enhance property photos. It helps create strong first impressions. This make them more appealing to potential buyers.

Adobe Firefly

AI tools for image upscaling
Image Credit: Adobe Firefly

Adobe Firefly appeals to users seeking options recognized in professional environments. This popular Adobe app now also houses a generative upscale feature. It uses advanced AI to enlarge images without loss of quality. More than resizing, creators can use it to sharpen details and refine textures. It makes sure visuals maintain a professional look across all content. It’s also easy to use since it keeps users inside a familiar creative workflow.

Key Features:

  • Enhancing images while maintaining clean composition
  • Polished commercial content for successful marketing campaigns
  • Clean edges and fine details that match professional design standards

Pricing:

  • Free Package
  • Standard Package – $9.99 per month
  • Pro Package – $19.99 per month
  • Pro Plus Package – $49.99 per month
  • Premium Package – $199.99 per month

Real Use Case:

Families can use it to restore photos of their ancestors. Adobe Firefly can boost resolution and sharpen details for more usable imagery. Even with just old or scanned pictures.

DeepImage

AI tools for image upscaling
Image Credit: DeepImage

Out of all the AI tools for image upscaling on this list, DeepImage specializes in handling image-heavy operations. For one, it can upscale images and recover face details and edges. If the photo is too worn out, this tool is capable of producing new details based on the source’s context. DeepImage can also process 50 images at once and quickly fix ISO or low-light mistakes.

Key Features:

  • Noise reduction for sharper images
  • Upscaling with optimization and batch processing
  • Preserved realistic tones and textures

Pricing:

  • Free Package
  • Subscription Package – $9 to $1,200 per month (depending on credits)
  • Pay as You Go Package – $7.99 to $169.99 (depending on credits)

Real Use Case:

DeepImage can enlarge lifestyle photography with no sweat. This makes it easier for interior brands and furniture retailers to make banners and marketplace assets.

Nero AI

Nero AI caters to images that need more than basic enlargement. Its strength lies in heavy restoration and detail recovery. With smart optimization under the hood, it can examine colors, edges, and light. This allows it to add relevant pixels and turn blurry photos into sharper outputs. Using deep neural networks, Nero AI can keep detail and clarity at massive sizes. So creators can expect more efficient workflows for large print projects.  

Key Features:

  • Prioritizes clarity and cleaner reconstruction
  • Improves images with 300+ DPI 
  • Single-click optimization and bulk processing

Pricing:

  • Free Trial
  • Standard Package – $6.95 to $65.95 per month (depending on credits)
  • Business Package – Custom Pricing

Real Use Case:

Photo editors often deal with mixed-quality images from different sources. As such, Nero AI can help improve lower-resolution photos by upscaling photos with natural visual elements and refined detail.

Choosing the Smartest AI Tools for Image Upscaling in 2026

Low-quality photos are unacceptable by today’s content standards. And manual work with standard interpolation won’t keep up with fast-paced workflows. That’s why the best AI tools for image upscaling do more than enlarge files.

Image upscaling isn’t one-size-fits-all. But these suggested tools enlarge photos to pro-level quality with ease and efficiency. Simfa. Upscale Media. Adobe Firefly. DeepImage. Nero AI. Each one of them understands textures, edges, and tones. Not just pixels. So your choice should help extend the life and usability of visual content.

Regulated Commercial Gaming Sector Continues to Develop in the UAE

Sebastian Bickley
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Regulated Commercial Gaming Sector Continues to Develop in the UAE

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) established a commercial gaming sector with the inauguration of the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) in 2023.

The federal body has subsequently been working towards making this industry one of the most tightly regulated yet commercially attractive markets in the world.

GCGRA Appoints Industry Veteran to Lead Next Phase

The GCGRA recently announced the appointment of renowned gaming executive Ciaran Carruthers as its new Chief Executive Officer.

An alumnus of the Synge Street CBS, Dublin, he has extensive industry experience. His appointment is a pivotal point for the UAE’s gaming plans.

Carruthers previously worked for Australia’s Crown Resorts, where he navigated the company through an aggressive regulatory transformation. He has also held top positions at Wynn Macau, giving him immense expertise in large-scale integrated resorts.

His appointment shows that the UAE is still committed to building a regulatory framework in which transparency, integrity and responsible gaming are key tenets, not mindless expansion.

GCGRA chairman Jim Murren believes Carruthers has the experience and vision to lead the authority through its next stage of development, in which it must clearly set world-class standards.

Carruthers said he was ‘honoured’ to be joining the gaming authority. He added that the UAE is ‘keen on setting the global benchmark for modern and responsible gaming regulation’.

He pledged to work with government partners, licensees and industry stakeholders to bring that vision to life.

UAE Builds a Carefully Regulated Supplier Ecosystem

The UAE’s commercial gaming market has been issuing licenses to local operators, creating competition for internationally regulated gaming operators serving the Middle Eastern nation.

The best UAE casino sites ranked on haztayeb-uae.com have traditionally operated under licenses issued in other jurisdictions, but will now fall under the GCGRA’s remit.

The UAE is expanding beyond operators. They have started issuing to international suppliers that will underpin the future of the country’s casino industry.

Malaysian gaming giant RGB International is the latest company to enter the market. They have secured a vendor license to supply electronic gaming machines and will also provide technical support in the UAE.

The GCGRA is moving gradually, preferring to carefully construct the ecosystem of extensively vetted manufacturers, technology providers and service companies.

RGB joins the list of 22 licensed gaming vendors authorised to operate in the Gulf nation, alongside giants such as Aristocrat, Novomatic, Light & Wonder, Konami and IGT.

The fact that international suppliers are vying for licenses shows there is long-term confidence in the UAE’s regulatory model.

Companies that obtain licenses can establish key relationships before integrated resort operations begin next year. For the UAE, it gives operators world-class gaming equipment from day one.

The UAE continues to prioritise regulatory oversight, responsible gaming safeguards and operational excellence, looking to build a sustainable industry that can compete with leading gaming behemoths.

Play971 Ushers in a New Era for UAE Betting

While construction of the multi-billion-dollar physical gaming casino has grabbed most of the spotlight, the UAE has also been developing an online ecosystem.

High-end tourists come for the brick-and-mortar luxury resorts with casinos, but stay for the engaging online experience.

Momentum Group’s Play971 became the country’s first legal betting platform, allowing customers aged 21 and above to wager on international competitions and domestic sporting events.

Play971 is operating under a license issued to Coin Technology Projects after receiving regulatory approval from the GCGRA. It is the first authorised betting company in UAE history.

Ahead of the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, the platform launched betting operations across UAE football and horse racing.

The branding is a reflection of the country’s international dialling code (+971) and the year the UAE unified (1971). It establishes a homegrown identity that the local market can identify with.

Punters across the Emirates can now access licensed, locally-regulated gaming experiences that ensure their taxes seep back into their economy.

Artist Interview: Elizabeth Barlow

Gerda Krivaite
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Artist Interview: Elizabeth Barlow

Elizabeth Barlow grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, in a house filled with art and surrounded by flower gardens. Her father was the late artist Philip Barlow, and after a detour in the performing arts, she followed his inspiration back to painting. Barlow earned her BA at the University of Utah and Master’s Degree from the University of Virginia, later continuing her arts education at UC Berkeley Extension, where she earned a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate with Distinction in Visual Arts. A contemporary still-life artist, Barlow works in a meticulous, layered oil painting process that results in works of luminosity and depth. After relocating to the Monterey Peninsula in 2016, she became inspired by the natural landscape and began her current series, Flora Portraits, seeing flowers as symbols of life force, fragility, and re-emergence. Elizabeth Barlow is represented by Andra Norris Gallery. Her work is held in collections including the Monterey Museum of Art, San Francisco Opera, and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford.

Your paintings transform flowers into portrait-like presences. When did you start seeing flora as individual ‘beings’ with character?

Thank you for this question. No one has asked it before and it is an important aspect of my work.   

Seeing the inner spirit of the flowers that I paint (and encounter on my daily walks) is connected deeply with my meditation practice. Each day when I sit in silence, I am practicing the art of awareness and being present, which is such a difficult thing to do in our increasingly “noisy” world. I’ve discovered that the more I practice stillness I am able to see more deeply and sense more acutely the wondrous living things around me, which of course include flowers. 

Also, I am a slow painter by practice and intention, and this has opened my eyes to the inner beings of my flower subjects. When I take the time to look deeply at a flower as I paint it, I am awakened from the deep sleep of busy-ness and see the wonder of this flower, this sunlight, this breeze, this sky, this NOW.  

What is your personal relationship with gardening, and how does that experience feed into your studio practice in Carmel?

As the child of a talented gardener, my mother, I grew up in a house surrounded by flower gardens, and took it for granted that the garden was as much a part of “home” as the house itself.  

But my adult life was mostly spent revelling in the bustling city life of San Francisco, not in nature. When we moved to our seaside village, I suddenly found myself with a garden and became a gardener. It is a quintessential cottage garden, and I’ve filled the front plot with roses — 25 bushes — lavish in their beauty and scent. Each morning, I open the shades in our kitchen windows and the first thing I look upon are roses. Later in the morning, I walk into town to my studio, passing by all the other cottage gardens in our village. By choosing to look at flowers and gardens each day, I set my inner compass pointing straight towards beauty. The more beauty I choose to look at, the more I see it around me.

Enlightened, Oil on linen, 40 x 50 in

Your artistic work enlarges delicate natural forms to a confrontational scale. How do you think the scale changes the emotional or ethical way we look at the natural world?

By exaggerating the scale of a flower, it requires me — and the viewer — to pause, to slow down and look more deeply. The flowers in my paintings are messengers and their beauty is a lure to remind us of the power of stillness, of strength within seeming fragility, of hope, faith, grace and transformation.

Gladden II, Oil on linen, 36 x 40 in

Can you talk about the origins of this body of work — was there a specific observation or moment that led you toward this hyperreal approach to florals?

Two things happened in 2017 that changed the course of my life and my art. First, we moved from San Francisco to Carmel-by-the-Sea. In the city, I was stimulated by the vibrancy of urban life, and my work reflected that glamour and energy. But in this seaside village, I was suddenly immersed in a world of ocean mists, twisting cypresses and year-round flowers in cottage gardens.  

At the same time, I was commissioned to create a painting by a remarkable collector and patron of the arts who lost his home in the 2017 Wine Country Fires. The fire destroyed everything on the property except the grapevines and one rose bush. And then something miraculous happened. In the spring, that single rose bush began to bloom gloriously. The homeowner decided to build a new house on the same site and asked me to create a 6-foot painting of that rose bush for the home. We titled the painting The Phoenix Rose because it literally rose out of the ashes and is a powerful symbol of hope, resilience and reemergence.

I now devote my time and energy to painting larger-than-life flowers and offering their message to the world. The beauty of a flower is just an enticement, it beckons us to an inner awakening. We can be awakened from the sleep of our busy-ness into the miracle of the present moment, the only moment there really IS, if we will only stop and see.

Flaunt, Oil on linen, 12 x 12 in

Your process is extremely layered and deliberate, from sketching through multiple glazing stages and extensive photographic reference. What does slowness mean to you in relation to looking, especially in a world defined by speed and image saturation?

I am a very slow painter. Each painting takes 3 to 8 weeks to complete, depending upon the size of the canvas. And that is just the actual painting time. I work on a painting “behind the scenes” for as long as a year, gathering flowers when they are in season, photographing them in early morning light, playing with the composition, changing my mind, and beginning again. 

I paint slowly by necessity because I paint in multiple glazed layers of oil paint, but more importantly, I paint slowly by choice. My devotion to slow painting anchors and steadies me, which is a wondrous thing in our increasingly busy, fast-paced world. 

Slow painting is one of the ways I carry mindfulness with me throughout my day. I wake early and begin the day with a cup of coffee and a quiet period of meditation. The tone of my day is set with this time of stillness, and my slow painting practice is another way of being entirely in the present moment as I work. I do not want to hurry as I witness the unfolding of beauty on my canvas or in the world around me. 

Promise, Oil on linen, 33.5 x 40 in

What piece of art has inspired you lately?

I am inspired on a daily basis by art I encounter and books I read. I just finished reading Pico Iyer’s gorgeously written book Aflame, which recounts the 35 years he has stayed at the New Camaldoli monastery in Big Sur to restore himself in silence. And my friend David Ligare, the great California painter, has a show of his early “sand” paintings and drawings. To make them, he made abstract drawings in the sand on the beach below his house in Big Sur. After photographing the sand drawings, he recreated them in his studio as drawings and paintings.  The work is both abstract and astoundingly real, and you can see the reverence with which he creates each grain of sand. 

 

Dinosaur Jr. Announce New Album ‘There Near’, Share New Song ‘Several Got Away’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Dinosaur Jr. Announce New Album ‘There Near’, Share New Song ‘Several Got Away’

Dinosaur Jr. are back. Today, they’ve announced their first album in five years, There Near, arriving August 28 via Jagjaguwar. Leading the Sweep It Into Space follow-up is the new single ‘Several Got Away’, which comes paired with a Guy-directed music video. Check it out and find the album cover and tracklist below.

“I wanted to do something a little tongue-in-cheek with a kind of ‘backyard movie’ feel that could fit in nicely with the existing canon of Dinosaur Jr. music videos,” Guy said in a press release. “The first bit of inspiration came from a great Henry Darger painting of kids being terrorised by two giant floating hands of fire. Then I got thinking about the rapture and it came together from there. The guys were really game for it all and I was honoured that they let me chase them around a big field with my camera like a psycho. We were on a tight schedule with the turnaround so I had to learn a lot of VFX stuff over the course of weekend, but I like the way the effects all turned out.”

There Near was made in short bursts over the course of a year at Amherst’s Bisquiteen Studio. It was mostly recorded by the band’s core trio of Murph, Lou Barlow, and J Mascis, with some piano and organ work by Ken Mauri.

Throughout the record, Mascis can be heard playing through a recently acquired 70’s Mesa Boogie MK 1 amp. “I bought the same amp that Chris Dixon had when we made our first album,” he explained. “Chris recorded us at his house with his amp. It has a real interesting sound I haven’t gotten for a while. And it’s something I was trying to get back to on this album. The Stones started using Mesa Boogies in the ’70s after they heard Santana playing through them. Then The Clash copied The Stones, etc. As the years went on into the MK 2 and so on, the Boogie got more metal sounding. But the MK 1 has a souped-up Fender sound. You always hear how Rick Rubin always makes bands he’s producing sit down and listen to their first album and say let’s get back to that sound. So I just gave myself his advice.”

Commenting on his lyrical approach, Mascis added: “I’m not always sure what a song is ‘about’ when I’m writing it. I guess the meaning will present itself at some point. I’ll use whatever words work. And a lot of it will be influenced by whatever esoteric mumbo jumbo I’m reading at the time. I try not to think too hard about any of it. I think it’s a drag that Spotify shows all the lyrics to a song. What’s the fun of that?”

There Near Cover Artwork:

Dinosaur Jr.

There Near Tracklist:

1. Several Got Away
2. No Friends
3. Everything At Once
4. Take Me With You
5. Blowin’ Up
6. Gone Off
7. Clam Along
8. Walk Me Back
9. Read the Room
10. Put It Down
11. No One’s Ready

The Art of Relocating in Brooklyn: What High-End Moves Actually Require

Our Culture Mag & Partners
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The Art of Relocating in Brooklyn: What High-End Moves Actually Require

Brooklyn has become one of the most coveted addresses in the world. Its brownstone-lined streets, world-class dining, and proximity to Manhattan have drawn high-net-worth residents and internationally mobile families who expect the same standard of service in every aspect of their lives. Including the move itself.

At the upper end of the market, relocation is a carefully orchestrated process involving irreplaceable artwork, bespoke furniture, vintage collections, grand pianos, and personal property that carries both financial and sentimental weight. Managing that process well requires expertise and discretion that goes far beyond what a standard moving company is equipped to provide.

Why Brooklyn Presents Unique Challenges for Luxury Moves

Brooklyn’s architectural character is one of its greatest assets and one of its most persistent logistical constraints. The brownstones and pre-war buildings that define neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, and Carroll Gardens were built in an era that did not anticipate the movement of large, fragile, or high-value property. Staircases are narrow. Doorframes are tight. Service elevators are rare.

For a family moving a curated interior that includes custom upholstered pieces, limited-edition art, or a Steinway grand, these constraints require serious advance planning and a team with the specific skills to navigate them without incident. Premium Brooklyn buildings add further layers: certificate of insurance requirements, designated move windows, freight elevator reservations, and floor protection mandates are standard. A team unfamiliar with these protocols creates friction. A team that handles them seamlessly makes the entire experience invisible, which is exactly what a luxury move should be.

The Standard of Care That Valuable Property Requires

High-value relocations demand a fundamentally different approach to packing and handling. Artwork requires individuals trained in protocols for framed canvases and sculptures. Fine furniture with hand-finished lacquer or delicate upholstery needs protection that accounts for humidity, vibration, and contact pressure. Pianos require specialized equipment and a methodical approach that prioritizes the instrument above timeline convenience. A single misjudged movement causes damage that no insurance payment fully addresses. 

Discretion as a Core Service Component

For high-profile residents and internationally mobile families, discretion is not a peripheral concern. It is a baseline requirement. A move conducted without it, with crews that discuss the contents of a residence, that allow access without proper vetting, or that operate without clear protocols around client privacy, represents a genuine risk.

The best operators in this space treat confidentiality as a professional standard, not an afterthought. This means vetted crews, controlled communication, and a client-first approach to every decision made on moving day. For residents accustomed to that standard across their service providers, it is a non-negotiable expectation.

Choosing the Right Team for a Brooklyn Move at This Level

Selecting luxury local movers in Brooklyn is not a decision that should default to whoever has the most reviews or the lowest quote. The relevant criteria are track record with high-value property, familiarity with Brooklyn’s building landscape, crew vetting practices, and the ability to coordinate a complex move without placing the burden of logistics on the client.

The right questions to ask include how they handle custom or fragile pieces, what their protocol is for buildings with strict move-in requirements, whether crews are employed directly or sourced through day labor, and how they respond when something unexpected happens on moving day. The answers reveal quickly whether a company operates at the standard a high-end relocation demands.

Brooklyn as a Long-Term Address

For those arriving in Brooklyn at the higher end of the market, the borough offers something few urban addresses anywhere can match: genuine neighborhood character at world-class scale. The investment in getting the move right is an investment in starting that chapter correctly.

A well-executed relocation is one the client barely remembers, because nothing went wrong. In a borough as architecturally complex and logistically demanding as Brooklyn, achieving that outcome consistently is the mark of a team that genuinely understands the work.

The Rise Of App-First Gaming Culture: How Mobile Platforms Are Changing Entertainment Habits In India

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The Rise Of App-First Gaming Culture: How Mobile Platforms Are Changing Entertainment Habits In India

India’s gaming habit now fits in a pocket.

A player no longer needs a console, a desk, or a quiet room. A phone, a data pack, and ten free minutes can open a match, a puzzle, a card table, or a live contest. Gaming has moved from a fixed place to a moving screen.

This shift has changed more than play. It has changed how people spend breaks, meet friends, follow trends, and try new forms of entertainment. The app has become the new arcade. It sits beside payment apps, music apps, and chat apps. It waits on the home screen, one tap away.

That is the heart of app-first gaming culture in India: quick access, low friction, and constant presence.

Why The Phone Became The Main Gaming Screen

The phone won because it removed the gate.

A console asks for space. A PC asks for setup. A phone asks for a thumb. That small gap matters in India, where daily life often moves through crowded trains, shared rooms, short breaks, and tight schedules.

Mobile games also fit mixed habits. A player can watch cricket highlights, pay a bill, message a friend, and open a game on the same screen. The phone works like a small street market. Each stall sits close to the next. The user moves fast.

This is why many platforms now lead with apps, light downloads, and direct access. Some users look for APK routes when they want a mobile version outside a standard app store path. In that context, searches such as bc game download sit inside a wider shift toward app-based play, quick installs, and phone-first entertainment.

How Apps Changed Daily Entertainment Habits

App-first gaming changed the shape of play.

Old gaming often needed a long session. Mobile gaming rewards short bursts. A user can play during a tea break, between classes, after work, or while waiting for a ride. The game bends around the day instead of asking the day to bend around it.

This has made gaming feel less like an event and more like a habit. It sits beside scrolling, streaming, chatting, and shopping. The phone turns idle time into active time.

Habit Shift Before Mobile Gaming With App-First Gaming
Access Needed a console, PC, or gaming café Needs a phone and data
Session Length Often long and planned Short, quick, and flexible
Social Layer Friends played in fixed places Friends connect through chats, clans, and live rooms
Discovery Games spread through stores or word of mouth Games spread through feeds, ads, creators, and app links
Spending One-time purchase or café fee Small in-app payments, passes, or wallet use

The result is clear. Gaming now slips into the gaps of daily life. It no longer waits for free time. It makes use of spare minutes.

Why India Became A Mobile Gaming Market

India gave mobile gaming the right ground.

Smartphones spread fast. Data became cheap. Payments became easier. Young users learned to move money, media, and messages through apps. Games followed the same path.

A phone also suits India’s social rhythm. Many people share homes, travel often, and use public spaces. A private console does not fit that pattern for everyone. A phone does. It works in a bedroom, a bus, a campus canteen, or a lunch line.

“In India, the phone is not just a screen. It is the remote control for daily life.”

That line explains the shift. Gaming did not need to pull people away from their habits. It entered habits they already had. It became part of the same loop as chat, video, sport, shopping, and news.

This is why app-first gaming feels natural in India. It does not ask for a new lifestyle. It rides on one that already exists.

The New Blend Of Games, Sport, And Digital Wallets

Mobile gaming in India now sits close to sport, payments, and live media.

A user may follow a cricket match, check a score, join a chat, and open a game without leaving the phone. The screen acts like a pocket stadium. It holds the match, the crowd, the ticket booth, and the snack counter in one place.

This mix explains why many platforms now offer more than one form of play. Some focus on casual games. Some add esports. Others combine casino-style games, sports features, rewards, and wallet tools. Platforms such as bcgame show how app-first gaming can merge play, live events, and account access into one mobile hub.

The key change is not one product. It is the pattern. Gaming no longer stands alone. It links with payments, sport, social feeds, and short video. The phone turns these parts into one loop, and users move through it with a thumb.

How Discovery Moved From Stores To Feeds

Players once found games in fixed places. They walked into a shop, visited a gaming café, or searched an app store. Now games find them.

A clip appears in a feed. A streamer shares a match. A friend sends a link. A creator tests an app on camera. The path from interest to play has become short and direct.

This has changed how gaming platforms grow. They no longer depend only on store charts or ads. They spread through daily media habits.

Common discovery paths now include:

  • Short videos that show a game in action within seconds.
  • Influencer streams that turn play into live entertainment.
  • Friend invites that make joining feel social, not formal.
  • Sports moments that push users toward live, match-linked play.
  • Direct app links that reduce the steps between seeing and trying.

This flow suits India’s mobile culture. People already use the phone to watch, chat, pay, and share. Games now ride the same roads. They do not need a separate lane.

Conclusion: The Phone Is The New Entertainment Floor

App-first gaming grew in India because it fits real life.

It does not ask for a spare room, a console, or a long evening. It works in small gaps. It turns the phone into a game room, sports bar, payment desk, and social space.

This shift will keep shaping entertainment habits. More games will start on mobile. More platforms will blend play with sport, chat, rewards, and wallet tools. More users will treat gaming as a daily touchpoint, not a special event.

The screen is small, but its role is large. In India, the phone has become the main floor where digital entertainment meets daily life.

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