Artist Laura Buckley with her mixed-media sculpture 'Fata Morgana,' Saatchi Gallery, London

© Stephen Chung/Alam

Art and soul

Art can seem like a portal to another dimension, as Irish-born artist Laura Buckley shows us in today's mind-bending image. She posed here (and there, and there, and there…) with her mixed-media sculpture 'Fata Morgana' at London's Saatchi Gallery last year. The work is outwardly unassuming, made from a hexagonal wood-frame tube lined on the inside with reflective acrylic and capped on one end with a projection screen. When a viewer enters the installation, the mirrored surfaces reflect their image along with a video projected on the screen, merging the two into a whimsical mirage.

We're stepping inside this life-size kaleidoscope for World Art Day. The International Association of Art (IAA) kicked off the idea of World Art Day in 2012, picking the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci, April 15, for the festivities. The occasion—since recognized by UNESCO 'as a means to achieve a more developed, free and peaceful world'—is marked by IAA-facilitated events that support the development of art and look to its future. But if the past is more your thing, try our art history quiz.