Reptiles

Reptiles
Now the other day, glancing at the table
I saw from my place on the sofa
a reptile slithering
writhing
crawling
from the front to the back - everywhere
in a circle like a ring like in eternal continuum
(leave you guessing from where to where, and that's that)
with eyes as black as tar
like midnight dreams - so strange yet familiar
for were they not reptiles?
yet they came from out the paper
and back in

What else could it be?
but MC Escher's Reptiles.



And with that attempt at poetry (I tried), let's welcome Escher's masterpiece.

Reptiles is a lithograph of a realistic scene of a table, on which rests some every-day materials such as would exist in a study room or an office. Escher has juxtaposed reality with the impossible, and has pulled it off convincingly as far as the human eye can see, having employed a high degree of photorealism in his rendering of the objects. The fact that the artwork is monochromatic draws more attention to its mathematical attributes as there are less frivolous details (colour) to focus on. This use of mathematics incorporates a degree of professionalism in the work, reinforced by the nature of mathematics itself - a precise, intangible representation of nature, an intelligence only truly grasped and enjoyed by enlightened minds or those passionate enough to be determined to endure the furnace of wondering-what-they-are-doing-with-all-those-numbers.

Escher has used a balanced composition. A triangle, a visual perceptive notion on the part of the viewer formed from Escher's deliberate placing of reptiles in a specific alignment, sits in the middle of the composition. Escher has used the mathematical principle of tessellation, seen from his drawing of a drawing of 2-dimensional reptiles on a book lying on the table. The important sole element that enables this work to be classified as Surrealistic is the fact that 3-dimensional reptiles are emerging from the 2-dimensional page - a situation which would never be witnessed in real life. The reptiles crawl in the general shape of a triangle across the table and back again as mentioned earlier. This guides the viewer's eye around the work. Escher has used lithography, which gives the work an illusion of depth that really isn't there on the 2-d surface.

The work deals with some very intellectual subject matter. As the viewer follows the path of the triangle of reptiles, he/she would note that the reptiles crawl over a book, a triangular-shaped object and a docahedron (math again). Thus Escher has employed geometric shapes, not only tesselation, to direct eye movement about the work.

The work has a very eerie mood. As it has no colour, but is only in black and white, it has a dark sense to it. The atmosphere is still, created by the ordinary objects on the table. However, a mysterious element is infused where tessellated reptiles begin to come to life from the 2-d page to become 3-d living creatures. They are also crawling in a triangular shape, which makes the viewer wonder what is the significance of it, although Escher only intended to introduce a paradoxical concept rather than infuse meaning.

The work appears surreal because, firstly, of its juxtaposition of the impossible with the mundane or the ordinary - one of the classical characteristics of Surrealism. Secondly, its mathematical precision renders it as realistic, hence the image looks believable to the human eye on first glance - yet the heart knows something is not quite right. It is like an impossible paradox.

Reptiles can be compared to Personal Values, by Magritte. Both works are mathematically precise and realistically sound, which create a sense of Surrealism. Both works deal with the subject of illusion, of paradoxical concepts. Both deal with the notion of infinity.  Magritte's use of an armoire with mirrors reflecting parts of the room the viewer cannot see, together with his realistic depiction of the sky on the walls, reflect the exploration of limits, boundaries of which the viewer knows no bounds (infinity) as far as can be seen from the painting. Escher, too, explores the concept of infinity through the triangle of  geometric shapes (circles, triangular and rectangular planes in the form of potted plants, books and a ring) and the reptiles crawling across the triangular path in a circle of continuous motion which seems as though they can never cease.

However, Personal Values brings across a more subtle sense of Surrealism. The surrealistic influences in Escher's work are more obvious at first glance because of the stronger element of the impossible in the lithograph: the reptiles coming to life. Magritte's work, however, could pass of as a mere photorealistic depiction of a room with its walls painted like a sky with gigantically-manufactured objects in the room. Magritte's work deals with more personal objects as the focus, while Escher's work focuses on the reptiles crawling in a triangular formation. Thus, Magritte's work deals more with personal interpretation, reflection while Escher's work deals more with technical details and precision.

Personal Values could also be re-done by an artist (wonder who'll be the first - or if anyone has done it yet) as an installation. An artist who specialises in the stuff could rebuild a real room with similar objects as Magritte depicted. That would be really cool - paintings come to life. They could have a Surrealism exhibition where visitors can walk into Surrealistic paintings that were actually built. For depicting people in the paintings, these artists who will/might make such a kind of exhibition could do this:



Paint the people so they look realistic. Yes so going back to the idea I had on such an exhibition, it would be really exciting because then the scenes depicted in Surrealistic paintings would actually exist in reality (only in plaster, plasticine, digitally or whatever medium the artists might use to rebuild the paintings in real life). What I want to highlight is, both paintings are similar in that, given that such an exhibition was/will be held, these two paintings would be able to feature in the exhibition precisely because they are possible to make in real life given the right materials, although of course they can't really truly come to life. But they would be 3-dimensional, which would be awesome. Surrealism revived in sculptural form. I hope somebody does this soon! An established artist! I'll definitely go for the art exhibition. If it's in Singapore of course...

I found a really cute, creative dan  relevant video. Crossing my fingers really hard that no one else used this video yet...!!! This video was made by a guy called Sjoerd Lohuis. He "rewrote" the story of Reptiles, adding on to what Escher did, using stop-motion animation. Kay enough of words, let's get to the exciting part!



Awesome! I wonder if it was possible to manipulate Escher's lithograph digitally so the panels actually shift and move under the weight of the reptile as it crawls across? Although that would be tedious.. But more interesting.