Predestination 1951

M.C. Escher made this lithograph sometime during his career; it’s a real head-scratcher! I mean, he's playing with tessellations, which is the process of tiling a plane with repeating shapes, but he doesn't just stop there; he morphs those shapes right before your eyes. Look closely at how the fish gradually transform into birds, and vice versa. The meticulous rendering, the way he builds up the tones with fine lines, it's so precise. It's almost hypnotic, right? The texture of the paper comes through, giving it this slightly rough, handmade feel, which is interesting given how mechanical the whole concept seems. And check out the middle ground where the fish and birds kiss—it’s like Escher is saying that reality isn't fixed, that there's fluidity and transformation happening all the time, we can see echoes of this in the work of Bridget Riley. It's not about definitive answers but about embracing ambiguity and the ongoing conversation between shapes, forms, and ideas.