See optical illusions and mind-boggling images in this new exhibition of artist M.C. Escher's work!
By Home & Decor Team -
You might have seen graphic artist M.C Escher's work without knowing they're his. The Dutch artist, who lived from 1898 to 1972, produced mind-boggling art pieces of mathematical precision that continue to fascinate us today. His work, 150 pieces of them, is now the subject of a new exhibition at the Art Science Museum, called Journey to Infinity: Escher's World of Wonder.
A lithograph self-portrait of the artist, created in 1929. The artist's works were mainly derived from printmaking techniques such as linoeum cut, woodcut, and lithography.
A large part of M.C. Escher's work come from his meticulous observation of nature, in particular, the geometrical regularity of the patterns that occur around him. As such, you can spot creatures such as fish, birds, and insects in his work!
This is an example of M.C. Escher's tessellation work where patterns are repeated to fill a space completely, without any gaps. Escher filled a notebook with 100 watercolours like this one of seahorses, that showed different tessellation motifs.
Visitors can try their hand at creating their own tessellations in the Tessellation Puzzle Activity!
One extremely well-known piece of Escher art is Sky and Water 1, a woodcut print made in 1938. The black of the bird transforms into the sea, while the white of the fish becomes the sky. The motifs become more lifelike as they escape from the tessellation.
You can see an image of M.C. Escher himself in the Hand with Reflecting Sphere, a lithograph created in 1935. He created this self-portrait in his studio in Rome, which is entirely reflected in the sphere.
Curator of the exhibition Dr Federico Giudiceandrea explaining another of Escher's masterpieces, Metamorphosis II, a woodcut from 1939-1940. In this continuous piece, Escher depicts a series of tessellations which include shapes turning into animals, animals turning into shapes, and then architecture, and finally ending at the same starting graphic, which symbolises an endless loop. The organisers worked with Nanyang Polytechnic to design Singapore's own metamorphosis piece, which shows our development from a fishing village to a garden city.
The Relativity Room plays with the room's proportions to create a distorted illusion of size. M.C. Escher was fascinated with the peculiar problems of depicting perspective. Here you can see the lady towers over the man.
Another famous work, Relativity, from 1953, shows M.C. Escher's fasciantion also with impossible constructions, optical illusions, and representing the infinity. This work has been widely referenced in popular culture such as album covers, in movies such as Labyrinth and Inception, and even in an episode of The Simpsons! You can watch some of these clips in the exhibition.
The Mirror Room also plays with the notion of infinity, with mirrors on the walls, floor and ceiling creating infinite relfections of the fish-shaped figures on display (the fishes are similar to the ones seen in M.C. Escher's work)
After a limited number of prints were done, Escher would destroy the plate (note the large cross etched onto the surface) so there could be no future prints. As such, this lithographic stone for the work Convex and Concave is pretty rare to have survived till now!
The last zone of the exhibition, Escher Mania, shows the work of artists, musicians, architects, mathematicians and designers who have been inspired by Escher. Shown here is the LP cover of Pink Floyd's Ummagumma record, which plays with the idea of infinite images as well.
Escher no doubt had a curious and inquisitive mind.
The Journey to Infinity: Escher's World of Wonder exhibition starts on Sat 24 Sept at the Art Science Museum at Marina Bay Sands, and runs till the first quarter of 2017. Admission charges apply. Programmes such as guided tours and workshops are also available. Get more information at www.marinabaysands.com/ArtScienceMuseum