Escher

Personal perspective: I have always been a dreamer, more satisfied in an imagined reality. My parents used to have to tell me not to bring a book with me when we went out to dinner. In one sense this has been neat because I have a highly developed imagination. In another sense this is sad—as Ferris Bueller said, “Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while you might miss it,” or something to that effect. I have realized that this world of ours is beautiful and mysterious, vast and microscopic. I am grateful to be here, but fantasy still has a special time and place for me. Regardless of my acknowledgment that I need to have a firmer foothold in the real world, I have always loved the alternate reality this Escher piece proposes; knights, ladies, fairies and a floating castle in which there is no up or down. One of my close girl friends in high school had this poster on her wall and in the summers we would fling both doors open and sprawl across her faded chenile bedspread, the swamp cooler sputtering coolish air on our faces. This was the perfect vantage point to gaze up at Escher's world and talk or not, or read or just be. This image is a piece of home to me.

List of objects: castles (2), towers (9?), bridges, stair cases (2), Mountains, river, trees, cobblestone floor, clouds, grass, vines, windows….

Molly Bang’s Principle’s: This is a very dynamic piece that defies gravity in a sense and unsettles the viewer. The bottom half of the sketch is dynamic because the castle is made of vertical rectangles and triangles for the most part and imparts a sense of moving upwards. This section is heavier than the top half however and appears weighted down. According to Bang the bottom half of the page has this effect on images. The castle atop the castle will also lend itself to the squishing, diminutive effect of the lower half of the image.

The top half of the image is made up of similar lines and triangles except everything is at an angle. This is the most dynamic type of imagery according to Bang because angles imply instability and uncertainty which may create tension or anxiety in the viewer.

The center of this piece, which according to Bang’s principles is the most important, is where the two castles or realities merge. In a way this center could represent my attempt to combine my fantasy world and the one I am supposed to be in. This is the greatest place of attraction for the viewer, but it is the place where the image makes the least sense. Viewing the top or bottom halves separately is okay, but trying to combine them is where the energy of the piece really lies. This demonstrates that the image was meant to create a sense of altered or unsettled reality.

Bang ruminates that lighter backgrounds feel safer than dark because humans cannot see in the dark or night time. The background of Escher's image is light but is in a transition either from light to dark or dark to light. This is noticeable in the luminescent quality of the clouds. This also creates tension because the world is poised on the brink of change, just as the two castles are poised on the brink of transitioning into one another. The light background in this case does not offer the sense of safety to the viewer that it would if the transition of time was not implied. Also, the towers themselves do not continue off the top of the page, but the clouds do. Also, the bottom of towers on the base castle and the top of towers on the upper castle both continue onto the left and right sides of the page. This creates a sense of spreading, like there is more known to the right and left, but only the unknown sky above. Escher used the edges of the page to create a sense of a larger picture we cannot understand, just as Bang’s principles dictate.