Twelve Birds 1948

M.C. Escher made this print, Twelve Birds, with lithography, and the process is everything. The way these birds interlock and repeat shows the artist thinking through the making, step by step. The pale grey and warm orange birds, seem to fly into and out of each other. Look how one bird's wing becomes the next bird's body; Escher blurs the boundaries so they're constantly transforming. It’s like a visual puzzle where each piece is both part of a larger whole and a distinct entity. The lines are crisp, precise, but not cold, there is something organic about the way they flow. The composition is less about perfection and more about exploration. Escher reminds me a bit of Bridget Riley, who also used pattern and repetition to play with perception. But where Riley might explore optical illusions, Escher delves into the mathematical and logical structures of space. His work is an invitation to see the world in unexpected ways, to question our assumptions about order and chaos, and to find beauty in the interplay between them.