[The current "in" thing is Op Art, the manipulation of our visual sense in the two-dimensional plane.  Perhaps no artist is more representative of this movement than M. C. Escher, and no day is more appropriate for a love letter to said artist than Valentine's Day…]

by Victoria Lucas

A Fine Romance

It was simple. I walked into a room and there was this man.  Well, not exactly the man himself, but there are self portraits. It was still love at first sight.

Maurits Cornelis Escher

I think I wrote about working on Battery Street in San Francisco, 633, as a matter of fact, for the capitalist taskmasters U.S. Leasing Corp.  (I'm kidding–I'm not that far left. But I don't like what they do to people who can't make payments on their rented cash registers.)  From that debt factory, just a 7-minute walk up (north on) Battery takes me to 1168 and a little gallery established in 1962.

The Vorpal Gallery

Named after the "vorpal" blade in Lewis Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky," Vorpal Gallery represents many artists, but I have eyes only for M. C. Escher.  Well, maybe I do glance at the other artists represented–occasionally, after I've had my fill of the master after work or at lunch break.  I pounce on any new work and gulp it in, forgetting about food.

Another Kind of Relativity

To introduce you to this man's work, here, for instance, is "Relativity," about which the artist wrote, "In this picture three gravitational forces operate perpendicularly to one another. Men are walking crisscross together on the floor and the stairs. Some of them, though belonging to different worlds, come very close together but can't be aware of each other's existence."

Relativity, by M. C,. Escher

Going Dutch

Born in the Netherlands, Escher became a graphic artist who made mainly lithographs, mezzotints, and woodcuts, but also carved three-dimensional objects.  (See below.)

Escher's Sphere with Reptiles, from 1949

Escher's work is mathematics made visible.  No formulas, just breathtaking elegance, beauty, simplicity.  He works with space-filling forms, like his spheres and tessellations.  He loved Italy for its landscapes and warmth, lived and worked there for many years.  However, although he had no politics to speak of, he felt forced to leave Italy when, after meeting and marrying a woman in Siena, and having a son, he couldn't stand the sight of his son wearing a school-mandated fascist uniform in the 1930s.  (They moved to be near his wife's family in Switzerland.)

Transforming the World

No subject is too humble or too fantastic for this man.  No matter how you orient this image of a puddle, it works to reflect and refract the world.

Escher's puddle, 1952

I want to continue to see the world through his eyes.  I'm not sure one lifetime is enough for that.

Find Your Own Puddle

In any case, whether you want to fall in love or not, I suggest you find a room or a book or a card with images by this Maurits Cornelis Escher who was fascinated by repeating patterns and impossible views.  I've found mine.

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