Escher takes you down Strange loop (or is he taking you up)
Two-step Strange Loop
Self-reference
Perpetual motion
Metamorphosis
More Escher pictures
Implicit in the concept of Strange loops is the concept of infinity, since what else is a loop but a way of representing an endless process in a finite way? And infinity plays a large role in many of Escher's drawings.
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In some of his drawings, one single theme can appear on different levels of reality. For instance, one level in a drawing might clearly be recognizable as representing fantasy or imagination; another level would be recognizable as reality. These two levels might be the only explicitly portrayed levels. But the mere presence of these two levels invites the viewer to look upon himself as part of another level; the viewer cannot help but getting caught up in Escher's implied chain of levels, in which, for any one level, there is always another level aboe it of greater "reality", and likewise, there is always another level, "more imaginary" than it is.
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2 comments:
SJ,
Nice pics.
In some of his drawings, one single theme can appear on different levels of reality. For instance, one level in a drawing might clearly be recognizable as representing fantasy or imagination; another level would be recognizable as reality. These two levels might be the only explicitly portrayed levels. But the mere presence of these two levels invites the viewer to look upon himself as part of another level; the viewer cannot help but getting caught up in Escher's implied chain of levels, in which, for any one level, there is always another level aboe it of greater "reality", and likewise, there is always another level, "more imaginary" than it is.
I take it that you are impliying non-duality in the pictures. Wonderful!!!
In daily life, We regularly see two levels of reality: the waking-state and the dream-state (apart from the dreamless-sleep state). What makes us think that waking state is more real than the other? What made the Upanishadic seers conjecture a fourth state?
Jagriti, Swapna, Sushupti is what everybody comprehends and we are also able to analyze the differences. We tend to relate the Jagriti as the more real part than the Swapna and I think we do it for a reason. It is because we have passed consciously (really!!!)from the real state to the not so real state. We then tend to differentiate them purely on what our senses dictate. While we are vacillating, our senses go completly absent in one mode and then we attach the so called tags of real and illusion to it just using this one meta information, if you will.
Blessed are those souls who are able to oscillate between turiya, the fourth state of consiousness, and Jagriti. Same as what Escher is portraying in these pictures right. You need to switch to the i mode to really look through this.
I would love to see a blog or a series of them which can elaborate on this theme. I will look forward to it ....
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