Master of Perception

Escher was a master of perception. From his early days sketching Italian landscapes to his work with representing 3D figures on a two dimensional plane he pushed the bounds of perception. Escher loved to create "Impossible" realities, prints representing constructions that look as though they could exist in 3D space but on closer inspection become increasingly problematic.

Escher played upon our human ability to create three-dimensional objects from two-dimensional images. He used every artistic and mathematical trick in the book to push the bounds of perception and to create works images that could only exists and make sense within Eschers work. Over Eschers career he became a mater of perception.

Escher's first print of an impossible reality was Still Life and Street, 1937. In the following years he would create such master works as Drawing Hands, a work in which two hands are shown, each drawing the other; Sky and Water, in which light plays on shadow to morph fish in water into birds in the sky; Ascending and Descending, in which lines of people ascend and descend stairs in an infinite loop, on a construction which is impossible to build and possible to draw only by taking advantage of quirks of perception and perspective.

Perhaps the most famous of Eschers prints are a amalgam of his Italian, Geometrical, and Impossible influences such as those listed above.

Eschers work has been an influence to a generation of scientists, mathematicians, and artists.

Take a look at some of the following video links provided by the offical MC Escher site to get a better idea of Eschers impossible realities.