A motion picture about M.C. Escher
Dutch graphic designer and artist Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898–1972) is lauded as a master of impossible contradictory perspectives, optical illusions and disconcerting perceptual phenomena. What appears to be self-evident at first glance proves upon second viewing to be paradoxical. In works such as »Air and Water« Escher developed spatial patterns in which, to take an example, birds morph into fish through minimal variations – in a play on figures and background. His thought images continue to be a source of fascination, confronting the viewer with disconcerting perspectives and exploring perceptual phenomena using optical illusions, with a consistently virtuosic drawing technique. Some recent projects have proven just how much M.C. Escher´s works have inspired designers. In the «Escher x nendo. Between Two Worlds» exhibition, the Japanese design studio nendo has created exhibits and rooms in the Escher style, contrasting them with the artist´s original work. And renovations carried out by architects from the Lanza Atelier on two old houses in the San José del Olivar district of Mexico City and from Studio 10 on the Chinese hotel «The Other Place – Guilin Litopia» have been inspired by Escher´s seemingly endless staircases. The motion picture M.C. Escher – Journey to Infinity, now showing in German cinemas, tells the story of the artist´s life and working methods based on his diaries, notes and letters.
