Fish and Frogs 1949

M.C. Escher made this woodcut print called "Fish and Frogs," playing with just black and white. It’s like he's thinking about how things fit together, a puzzle maybe, or a game of seeing how much you can get out of simple moves. I’m really drawn to the way Escher uses the contrast between black and white to create the fish and the frogs, each shape emerging from the other. The lines feel so precise, controlled, but then you realize, he's carving into wood! You can almost feel the physicality of the process, like he's slowly chiseling away, revealing these impossible shapes. Notice how the bodies of the black fish form the negative space that defines the white frogs, and vice versa, the tail of the white frog creates the form of a black fish. It’s a trick of perception. Escher reminds me a bit of Bridget Riley, who also was interested in how you can make flat shapes seem to move, and how our eyes can be tricked. In the end, it’s a reminder that art isn't just about showing reality; it's about making us question what we think we see.