Welcome to Basmofilia!

Here's a digital space for fantasy and meaning, archetypes and modern narratives, fairytales, folklore, storytelling & art and a sense of meaning found in all our stories of the Universe.

INTERVIEW Breaking the stereotype: the old Superhero, by Andreas Englund

23/08/2015

Who doesn’t love superheroes? With all their awesome powers and crazy attitude, we wonder if they could really have a normal life, too, as we imagine afterevery movie or story about them. Well, Swedish painter Andreas Englund surpassesall ourexpectations by bringing to life a badass in his 60s, tired or bored , witty and clumsy, […]

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Exhibition RITUAL | Otto Constantin, 2015 @ Go Art Projects

21/08/2015

“I met Otto in an exhibition by chance. He shyly approached and asked if he could send a portfolio to me. Nothing in the presence of this young boy would betray the strength and determination with which he paints, the lust in finding his subjects and the relaxation which exhibits his works with. Although from […]

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Totoro, God of Death in Miyazaki's movie?

01/08/2015

Besides the symbolic names appearing in Spirited Away that can be lightly taken, the obscure duality of chubby Totoro from this fantastic movie is worthy of a deeper look. Those who have not seen the film, certain spoilers ahead At first glance, we’d say that this chubby creature named Totoro brings a lot to a […]

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Symbols in "Spirited Away" send us to sex industry

31/07/2015

Did you enjoy Spirited Away, this animated story about spirituality created by Hayao Miyazaki in 2001? Well, we did! Especially when we found out a bit more about some of the discrete mysteries the movie enchanted us with. Some sort of Japanese version of “Alice in Wonderland” with a well defined identity. Far from being […]

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The werewolf, from beast to modern alpha male. An ideal of masculinity and terrors of puberty

03/07/2015

Being as popular as the vampires, the lycanthropes were being since the world existed and it’s hard to believe that they could have been killed by silver bullets – the silver bullets were invented in the 14th century. The ability to transform into a huge wolf, howling at the full moon, as an hereditary line, […]

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The old and the new Zombie: the modern delirium

02/07/2015

They emerged from the Haitian hot jungles, from the arid northern plains, from the Gaelic mines, from space and time and arrived on Broadway, in video games, movies and parodies, on the streets of America. They’re everywhere. And they are among the few creatures that survived, although they’re outclassed by vampires, Frankenstein’s monsters and other […]

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Vampire, the monster of sexuality and the constant zeal for immortality

27/06/2015

The stories are the romantic nickname of literary language of the realities that we can’t fully explain. A epistemology approach that allows harmony between useful and beautiful. All the creatures that appear during the stories are, in fact, metaphors of the most repressed and hidden or insidious fears of ours, let’s say that too few […]

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Frankenstein's monster is not a monster, after all

25/06/2015

Hip Adams and sensual Eves, zombies who fall in love and flirt old-fashioned, evil creatures bearing the innocent souls – all of these are modern reinterpretations that seduce and draw us to know the unknown, with the same serenity and pure curiosity, again and again and again. From the video games, Lord of the Rings, […]

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The Elf, angel and demon on the shelf

24/06/2015

We’ve got used to the image of Legolas from the Tolkien trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson: a human shape, with crystal eyes, pointy ears and a long blond hair, dressed from head to toes and of a divine beauty. Is is tough to figure the male from the female elf. Just that, at first, things […]

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INTERVIEW Oneiric drawings in pens and pencils by Daria Hlazatova

23/06/2015

„Daria’s drawings are inspired by fairytales, theatre, awkwardness and nonsense. Besides that, she’s an avid music and cinema lover, a confident traveller, a mediocre tambourine player and an excellent home dancer.”, writes on her website. Masks, flamboayant muses, hidden feelings, eyes everywhere (the root of her name means eyes, in Russian) into the patterns and cosmic […]

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Unicorn Tapestries: unicorn as a Monalisa

22/06/2015

Unicorn Tapestries are the most complex and staggering artwork surviving medieval time Looking for unicorns? You as well might find them in magical herds like that one of Cloisters Museum (Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan), well, if you can afford a trip up there. If you prefer something trippy & outside the box, take […]

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Howl’s Moving Castle, a visual masterpiece of Japanese culture

22/06/2015

Japanese art – they’re traditional at heart, but terribly awkward. A magic blend of wonder and spirituality, of art and sacrifice, of powerful messages about a hilarious, but quintessential testimony of Life.   It is one of those films that you should enjoy two or three times before you understood the story and characters individually. The […]

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INTERVIEW Ethereal portraits in watercolor by Kelly McKernan

22/06/2015

Wandering around whimsical webs of art around the world, we were introduced to the many portraits of Nashville, Tennessee based fine artist and illustrator, Kelly McKernan. Intimacy, delicacy and a serene feeling of a powerful yet feminine force melting, transcending realities. As it says on her webpage, Kelly obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Kennesaw State University”. Focusing on opposing […]

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Romanian Victor Brauner 's surrealist bestiary

22/06/2015

Paintings with a colorful mix of plant and animal symbols, surrealism and mutilated eyes, tarot symbolism and the Brauner’s fascination for André Breton’s: a bestiary under the sign of contemplative silence. Protégé of Breton, for who our Romanian painter would be magic artist par excellence, is a devoted painter of premonitions, both ironic and cunning […]

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How To Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

22/06/2015

The author of this HTTYD fantastical stories is a 48 years old London girl who loves writing since she was 9 and has spent most of her childhood on an unknown small island in Scotland, without access to technology. Luckily for her, her father kept telling her stories about Vikings who invaded the island hundreds […]

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Miyazaki’s Totoro & Princess Mononoke came to life in Seoul

22/06/2015

The legacy of Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese kingship of the most witty and complex animated stories of all time – some compare him with Walt Disney – continues to expand despite his retirement from the famous Ghibli Studios. But the Studios have not given up Miyazaki. At least in Seoul.   While running for a […]

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10 graphic stories about unicorn from medieval and modern art

22/06/2015

Even now, we crave for stories. We need creative ways to express ourselves in order to keep the magic happen – if it’s not too much to say, your own life storyline. Fortunately, this courage took shape in different art environments and even advertising. The fact is the unicorn is so alive in our lifes […]

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Mitchell Landsman's #morbid unicorns

22/06/2015

We’re getting closer, so close to the end of the world, not the party, but the big bang finale party, heh. With a cigarette burning our lips, we, the nihilistic talented minds, hungry for new worlds, we, the artists, the sadistic little ones behind the curtains. When we have nowhere to go, we go back […]

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Unicorn, a frankensteinian experiment

22/06/2015

“Well, now that we have seen each other”, said the Unicorn, “If you’ll believe in me, I’ll believe in you.” Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll No wonder we insist on it. Licorns are perhaps the only creatures that stir our imagination and interest even today, given the secrecy is bathing in. The fascination for […]

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Unicorns in world's cultures

22/06/2015

Jews and Re’em And the great monsters were created in the Sixth ay, some still living among us, while others were wiped off the face of the earth during Flood. Re’em was a gigantic animal and only existed one pair, male and female. Scientists argue about the number of their horns: either was only one, […]

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The 4 Myths of the World

22/06/2015

“Fantastic”, “fabulous”! these words got into our vocabulary without even aknowledge their full sense. We’re still charmed by supernatural, stories and mythical creatures and we often stare perplexed when they are brought back to life in movies and contemporary art. With just a tiny little detail missing from our head: we forget where they all […]

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10 awkward but worthy, old and new animations

22/06/2015

It took a long time until the animation got strongly divided into Disney massive production and anime world. The first became commercial, but full of sweetness, ultimately full of hidden meanings. We love both of them, but I personally got tangled into the Japanese anime. Meh, it’s never too late, we know, we know! The […]

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Memorabilia on Ebay: Alice in Wonderland

20/04/2015

One girl’s dream of a victorian world, in which life gets pastel, the characters drink tea, animals are humanized, play and make trips nearby. Actually, she prefers to reflect reality in chimeras, finding similar fantasies to every milestone in his life. There are also shadows and mystery involved. Somehow, no one understands anything, but remains […]

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8 fairytales gone wild: modern stories based upon classics

19/04/2015

A Cinderella driven in meth psychosis, a divorced Snow White, the big bad wolf as a town’s sheriff or some Grimm’s poetry – these are the adaptations which successfully became the modern tales. Long story short, o selection of bizzare fairytales up to date. Six-Gun Snow White Wild Wild West managed to transform Snow White into […]

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10 whimsical places in the world where you'll find magic

19/04/2015

With each story I’ve read wandering, I found myself fascinated. Those whismical places, full of daring secrets which I would known with my steps trembling – a golden apple orchard, that home of good and mischievious fairies hidden in deep, dense dark forests, those ol’ forgotten castles and most of all, the dungeon of a Romanian […]

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Golden Gate is born from fonts

19/04/2015

What do you do when you have too many letters in too many styles? You print them in templates of buildings, of course. Or, at least, one of us does. The roman Colosseum , Brooklyn Bridge or Salt Lake. Strong in bold or suave in italic, delicate and vulnerable like in those calligraphy sketchbooks. The […]

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“Sight”, a futuristic game on a romantic dinner

19/04/2015

Futurism. That movement dedicated to evolution, to the future and solitude, assumed once with the risk of technological revolutions, initiated by an Italian poet, Filippo Tomaso Marinetti around 1909. It sounds curious,intriguing and frightening alike. Appetizing with a predilection for the fans of modern technology, the short sci-fi movie made by Eran May-Razand Daniel Lazo […]

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INTERVIEW Breaking the stereotype: a different portrait of the Superhero, by Andreas Englund

05/01/2015

Who doesn’t love superheroes? With all their awesome powers and crazy attitude, we wonder if they could really have a normal life, too, as we imagine after every movie or story about them. Well, Swedish painter  Andreas Englund surpasses all our expectations by bringing to life a badass in his 60s, tired or bored , witty and clumsy, […]

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INTERVIEW Oneiric drawings in pens and pencils by Daria Hlazatova

03/10/2014

„Daria’s drawings are inspired by fairy-tales, theatre, awkwardness and nonsense. Besides that, she’s an avid music and cinema lover, a confident traveller, a mediocre tambourine player and an excellent home dancer.”, writes on her website. Masks, flamboayant muses, hidden feelings, eyes everywhere (the root of her name means eyes, in Russian) into the patterns and cosmic […]

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INTERVIEW: Kelly McKernan, Ethereal portraits in watercolor

15/09/2014

Wandering around whimsical webs of art around the world, we were introduced to the many portraits of Nashville, Tennessee based fine artist and illustrator, Kelly McKernan. Intimacy, delicacy and a serene feeling of a powerful yet feminine force melting, transcending realities. As it says on her webpage, Kelly obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Kennesaw State University”. Focusing on opposing […]

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