STUDIES IN GENIUS

“Every artist draws himself.”
M.C. Escher

One of the most brilliant artists of all time is M.C. Escher
(Maurits Cornelis Escher, 1898 – 1972, Holland). His work is a
perfect example of living creativity in pictorial form. If the picture
at the right is a form of self portrait, he has shown us what an
open mind would look like. Escher’s work is the epitome of an
open and enchanted mind.

He took his craft beyond the bounds of simply rendering in two
dimensional medium what he saw. He embellished his work with
imagination and stretched the limits of artistic expression. He
managed to capture a three dimensional quality that few artists have matched.

What also sets his work apart was his ability bring the Moorish concept of
tessellation to new heights.Tessellation involves the division of a two
dimensional surface into a periodic checkered mosaic pattern. This is used
heavily in Moorish art and architecture. Escher proceeded to invent new
rules of tessellating a plane surface. In doing so he managed to create
visions that defy reality as they interweave themselves in intricate but
believable illusions.

In the image to the left the movement of the flock of birds, which changes into
fish, utilizes a transformation of ground into figure. These transformations involve
the subtle use of brightness contrast and shading which force certain figure-and-ground
perceptions onto the viewer.

Escher also excelled in the portrayal of “impossible figures”. These
involve perceptual paradoxes that cannot be resolved in the mind,
though the eye can experience them. In the wood engraving Other
World to the right, we see that the creature appears to be sitting
on the sill of an arched opening. Behind the creature is a bleak
alien landscape. This section has a common horizontal perspective
in which the vanishing point is on the horizon of the landscape.
If you shift your eyes to the bottom of the engraving, you see the
vanishing point as the zenith; and you are looking up at the
creature, the background being an unfamiliar part of sky.

If you continue to study this picture you will see more visual
paradoxes. You can become quite fascinated at the intricacy and
plausibility of the changing visual perspectives, all accomplished
in one drawing.

We highlight Escher’s work here because he has a large portfolio
that can be studied by anyone who is interested in opening their
mind. Most public libraries have copies of his work. In fact, I have
found that just by sitting down with a book of his images, my mind begins to experience a literal feeling of expansion. He stretches the imagination to include visual patterning that is otherwise considered impossible to the mind. And yet, here it is, portrayed in a completely plausible work of art.

One way to develop your own creative gift is to study the work of those who
have expressed their genius. This cannot be overemphasized. Surround
yourself with the work and ideas of those human beings who have ventured
beyond the known of their time, bringing back their ideas for others to
experience. I guarantee you that if you spent half an hour a day looking or
listening to the works of brilliant minds, you would begin to have thoughts
of your own that reveal your own personal genius. Everyone has some
special talent waiting to unfold. All we need is the impetus and the
exposure to inspired minds to bring this hidden talent to the surface.
Once you know where your passion lies, there are no limits to how far or
wide your own journey into the unknown will be.

Perhaps that is what life was created for. To perpetually journey into the
unknown and bring back to concrete form what we have found. The drawing to
the left shows the creatures looking into the unknown. If this was another
“self-portrait” of Escher’s, then he was showing us that a 360 degree
perception on the unknown could reveal a fantastic perspective on reality. Looking in unusual places for unusual things, rendering them coherent to ourselves and others, is the very heart of creative thinking. Begin your journey today.