Flying Fish 1954

M.C. Escher made this tessellated print called 'Flying Fish' - we don't know exactly when, but it doesn't really matter, right? - with a careful sense of geometry and a limited colour palette. It’s kind of mesmerizing, like a visual puzzle, with these red and white fish fitting together perfectly. You get a sense of his process, how he meticulously planned the composition, ensuring each shape interlocks. Look at the contrast of red and white, how the colours alternate and create this visual rhythm. It gives the piece a playful, almost hypnotic quality. I see the individual fish shapes as kind of funny. Escher gives them each a slightly different character, all based on a formula. Escher reminds me of Bridget Riley, with his interest in patterns, or maybe Sol Lewitt, but with a sense of humor, not just an idea. Ultimately, art is about an exchange of ideas across time, always embracing ambiguity over fixed meanings.