This reminded me of some graffiti next to the East Side Gallery, Berlin, which I found striking. There's a picture of the artist surrounded by the words: "MC Escher would be like, who the fuck is OBEY?"
M.C. Escher: An Enigma Behind an Illusion
21–27 of 27 posts
Re: M.C. Escher: An Enigma Behind an Illusion
#22My favorite aspect of Escher's art is seen in Belvedere, Ascending and Descending, and Waterfall. I love how it ties in with arguments about the Coherence Theory of Truth: Consider two propositions which do not belong to a specified set. These propositions could both be consistent with a specified set and yet be inconsistent with each other. If coherence is consistency, the coherence theorist would have to claim that…
Douglas Hofstadter's book Gödel, Escher, Bach mentions aspects of self-reference and logical consistency in Escher's works.
Re: M.C. Escher: An Enigma Behind an Illusion
#23I've always felt that people didn't really regard Escher as an artist because his works are too straight forward. He manages to take his thoughts on infinity, beginning and end, dimensions and other philosophical and mathematical concepts and put them into drawings in a very clear way. To me, this feels like incredible talent. But perhaps the artist world balks at such straight forwardness. Things need to be more abs…
To me, one of the hallmarks of great artists is that their work is distinct and recognizable. Escher's work is unmistakable for that of anyone else, both because of content and technique. Even works that don't feature the impossible geometry or tessellations he became famous for are unmistakably his due to their execution.
Most artists who dare to be so utterly unique have little chance of achieving commercial success, but Escher remains one of the most popular artists of the twentieth century. His work is iconic. Escher's unpopularity in high art circles is likely due to this improbable combination of uniqueness and popularity. Few artists dare to be as different as Escher was, and those who try usually wind up as failures. In this sense, Escher is a subject of ultimate jealousy for any "serious" artist while simultaneously being one of contempt for his popularity.
Escher is a great artist. I don't care what some people say. They're wrong. They'd likely have the same view of Picasso if he had held himself more aloof.
Re: M.C. Escher: An Enigma Behind an Illusion
#24> Occasionally, one gets the impression that this meticulous, sober man could be a little stuffy. > when Mick Jagger wrote to “Maurits” asking for permission to reproduce one of his pictures on the cover of the Rolling Stones’ album Through the Past Darkly, Escher refused, informing the rock star’s assistant: “Please tell Mr Jagger I am not Maurits to him.” Just want to point out, this could be a cultural difference…
now imagine that instead of going in for a hug, the stranger read your name off a name tag that you had on, and then cautioned you about how using hyperbole to bolster your point can, to eyes open enough to see, make your point actually appear weaker.
Re: M.C. Escher: An Enigma Behind an Illusion
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really agree with all of this. Small, related rant: It is really sad to me that any artist that works primarily in a medium meant to be reproduced (printmaking, illustration, and probably now digital art), is immediately and automatically lowered to a lesser tier by the art establishment. It makes appreciating their actual art works, the actual form and content of their of their work, much more difficult. It is a c…
The art world is a social game played by rich people who want valuable objects. Art is used as a store of value and conspicuous wealth, and to show that the owner is someone who can afford to pay for an artist's time. You can't do that with a digital file that can be reprinted and copied ad lib. But you can try. There's a new project which uses the blockchain to deal with the issue of provenance, so that art world pe…
Which is the contradiction exploited by Banksy.
Re: M.C. Escher: An Enigma Behind an Illusion
#26I've always felt that people didn't really regard Escher as an artist because his works are too straight forward. He manages to take his thoughts on infinity, beginning and end, dimensions and other philosophical and mathematical concepts and put them into drawings in a very clear way. To me, this feels like incredible talent. But perhaps the artist world balks at such straight forwardness. Things need to be more abs…
To me, one of the hallmarks of great artists is that their work is distinct and recognizable. Escher's work is unmistakable for that of anyone else, both because of content and technique. Even works that don't feature the impossible geometry or tessellations he became famous for are unmistakably his due to their execution. Most artists who dare to be so utterly unique have little chance of achieving commercial succes…
Indeed. It doesn't matter at all what the "art world" thinks; Escher's images have made an indelible mark on culture, and that makes him a great artist.
Re: M.C. Escher: An Enigma Behind an Illusion
#27> Occasionally, one gets the impression that this meticulous, sober man could be a little stuffy. > when Mick Jagger wrote to “Maurits” asking for permission to reproduce one of his pictures on the cover of the Rolling Stones’ album Through the Past Darkly, Escher refused, informing the rock star’s assistant: “Please tell Mr Jagger I am not Maurits to him.” Just want to point out, this could be a cultural difference…
I've lived in England and the Dutch speaking (Flemish) half of Belgium. Certainly trying to appear you're someone's friend when you don't know them is frowned upon. But Mick Jagger's English so he knows the customs - and they're fairly similar between England and Holland. There's probably quite a few people that would love to be called by their first name by Mick Jagger, but clearly Meneer Escher wasn't one of them.