Articles Archives - Abstracted Reality

The Wonders of Escher

Maurits Escher

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been fascinated and in awe of the wonderous, mind-bending artwork of Maurits Escher. In my childhood, at Christmas time, calendar hunting was an adventure to see if I could find one featuring Escher’s drawings and designs. I could then have a new puzzle to ponder or new perspective to analyse and contemplate every month.

I admired his precision, discipline and meticulous attention to detail. His artwork was exact and exacting. A passing glance would never do. You had to do more than just look, you had to delve deep to really appreciate the myriad of intricacies, contradictions and impossibilities which he presented.

Transformation

‘Day and Night’ 1938

One of the key aspects of Escher’s work which attracted me the most, is the theme of transformation. Central to my abstract photography, I too love the challenge of taking something in a familiar state and crafting it into another, offering a completely different interpretation and point of view.

In ‘Day and Night’, for example, the way Escher morphs the fields into birds is gradual and subtle. But even more compelling is how he turns the negative space between the white birds into their black counterparts flying in the opposite direction. For me, there’s a contradictory oscillation between the apparent simplicity of the artwork and the underlying complexity of design and execution.

We see the same technique used in ‘The Encounter’.

‘The Encounter’ 1944

This piece is almost like a macabre dance where the two protagonists are destined to repeat their handshake over and over as they perpetually circle around each other in varying degrees of rendition.

Challenging Perceptions and Perspectives

Offering a different, and hopefully thought-provoking view of the world is one of my goals as an abstract photographer. I enjoy subverting viewers’ expectations and perceptions by taking the ‘known’ and recognisable, and presenting the ‘unknown’ and mysterious, where viewers must make a leap of faith and move beyond their comfort zone. This is another reason why I have such an enduring affinity for, and fascination with Escher’s work.

‘Other World’ (Another World) 1947

When I was younger, these types of pictures used to blow my mind! They still do. Who wouldn’t harbour, at least the tiniest sliver of intrigue when viewing something like this? For a kick off, what’s up and what’s down? What exactly are we looking at? How is this ‘space’ orientated and defined? Are multiple spaces existing simultaneously? How do we perceive this? Everything is thrown into question. What shouldn’t be possible, suddenly is.

I’m reminded of Scotty’s immortalised line on Star Trek – “I cannae change the laws of physics!”

He may not have been able to – but Escher could.

‘Relativity’ 1953

‘Relativity’ is another example where our perceptions are turned on their head and we’re left exclaiming “how can that be?”

Out of curiosity (and just for fun), I decided to do a little experiment and re-orientated this picture several ways to see if it would withstand observation and maintain its integrity from multiple points of view.

No matter which way you look at it, Escher’s staircase conundrum plays out equally well. So aptly titled, our point of reference in this fantastical setting is all ‘relative’.

Inviting the Impossible

Speaking of staircase conundrums…

‘Ascending and Descending’ 1960

‘Ascending and Descending’ has captured my imagination for decades. Logically I know this shouldn’t be possible, yet my eyes are apparently telling me otherwise.

Upon reflection, I think this is what’s at the heart of my enjoyment of Escher’s works.

The paradox.

The contradiction.

The challenge to the viewer to make you think.

The invitation to question what you see.

“Are you really sure that a floor can’t also be a ceiling?”

Maurits Escher

Jane Trotter - Creator of Abstracted Reality

Jane Trotter is an abstract photographer living in Dunedin, New Zealand. Reimagining everyday objects found around the home, Jane transforms them into colourful and dramatic pieces of contemporary art. Her Fine Art Prints are available in sizes A4 to A1.

Exposed #21: A Touch of Red

Spoiler Alert! In my 'Exposed' series of articles I reveal some of the secrets behind how I created my images. If you don't want to know how I made 'A Touch of Red' stop reading now!

Well, it’s no surprise what these are! This is probably my most easily discernible image (even without the helpful title). Yes, I have immortalised my fingerprints.

What may be slightly less discernible is how I made this image. No, I did not dip my fingertips in red paint.

I played with a bucket.

I really enjoyed the strong backlight and how the pads of my fingers pressed against the plastic, providing a slightly darker appearance than the rest of my fingers.

Here’s an example where my fingertips suggest three, mysterious and disturbing hooded figures, advancing in the twilight.

Somewhat starker and simpler (and looking more like fingers) is the ‘out of the camera’ shot for ‘A Touch of Red’.

Of course, in the original, there’s absolutely no hint of red, and it’s reasonably far removed from what I ultimately ended up with.

This is where I embarked upon a bit of a journey. Back in the day when I had very little skill in Photoshop and only possessed a rudimentary grasp of the basics, my ‘playing’ was not particularly sophisticated. For example, I would tweak levels, contrast and brightness, and hue and saturation to see what enhancements I could make.

Sometimes curiosity got the better of me and I went out on a limb, tweaking these elements to their extreme, just to see what effect they’d have on the image. I’m very glad I did, as ‘A Touch of Red’ is the result of such daredevil experimentation!

It’s certainly been a while since I made this image, so I can’t take you through exactly what my processes were. Frankly, they were probably incredibly unstructured, with a lot of toing and froing and a fair amount of luck thrown into the mix! However, these four intermediate shots I’ve put together will hopefully give you an idea.

What appeals to me the most about ‘A Touch of Red’ is its simplicity. It is what it is, and nothing more. No pretence. no artifice. It’s direct and straightforward. A good philosophy for life maybe…

The French Connection – Monet and Debussy

As part of my ‘In Harmony’ series of blog posts, I want to explore linking an artwork (whether it be a painting or photograph) with a specific piece of music. My goal is to have both the art piece and composition amplify and strengthen the emotions and feelings intrinsic to both works.

In essence, I’m adding a visual connection or stimulus to a piece of music (or vice versa, an aural stimulus to a piece of art). It’s a technique I use a lot with my students. Sometimes a composer will give the performer a helping hand with an evocative title like ‘Lavender Fields’ where it’s not difficult to imagine swathes of purple flowers undulating gently in the golden glow of a Summer sunset. With more generic titles, my students and I have to get a little more creative.

I’ve had this collection of Debussy’s piano pieces for many, many years and couldn’t count how many times I’ve opened it, or how many pieces I’ve chosen for my piano students from it.

I’ve always had more than a passing interest in the painting on the cover, but have never really taken the time to investigate fully – until now.

Monet’s ‘Impression, Sunrise’

‘Impression, Sunrise’ by Claude Monet

Painted in the early 1870s, Monet’s ‘Impression, Sunrise’ depicts a view of the port of Le Havre in north-western France. Two individuals can be seen in the rowboat in the foreground, while in the background, larger ships and boats inhabit the harbour. Cranes, other heavy machinery and factory chimneys complete the scene. Most notably, the sun shines a vibrant orange, cutting through the haze and industrial smoke.

Claude Monet (self-portrait) 1840 – 1926

Monet portrays a supremely calm scene with the misty, foggy atmosphere enveloping the harbour. We feel present, active observers, yet there’s a vagueness, an indistinctness which seductively draws us into the picture and heightens our curiosity.

‘Impression, Sunrise’ has been hailed as one of the cornerstones of the Impressionist Movement. Rather than painting an exact likeness or strict representation, the Impressionists endeavoured to convey their perceptions of a scene, often playing with light, employing vague outlines, and utilising subtle colours.

Impressionism in the visual arts soon blossomed into a similar style and aesthetic in music.

Claude Debussy 1862 – 1918

Impressionist composers focused on conveying mood and atmosphere.

Claude Debussy is viewed as one of the central exponents of Impressionist music (though he himself disliked the title of an Impressionist composer). Translating into sound the nuanced and subtle colourations of his visual counterparts, Debussy’s music embodies the same dreamlike and ephemeral qualities.

Often defying traditional harmonic conventions, Debussy employed exotic scales (whole-tone and pentatonic), ambiguous tonality, unresolved chords and inventive orchestration to compose his works.

The French Connection

So, returning to my goal of connecting a particular piece of music with a particular piece of art, the cover of my Debussy collection has given me the perfect inspiration and incentive to form my ‘French Connection’.

Debussy composed many remarkable and beautiful works, and narrowing down the field to just a single piece has been difficult. However, one did stand out.

‘Voiles’ is a piece for solo piano from 1909, and the second piece in a set of twelve preludes published a year later.

The opening bars of ‘Voiles’ by Debussy

Translated into English as either ‘veils’ or ‘sails’, I think both meanings work equally well. I can imagine being one of the occupants in the rowboat, languidly drifting on the calm water, watching the sail boats in the distance and taking in the whole atmosphere of the port as it stirs and awakens to begin a new day.

Everything has a mystical, ethereal quality. Shrouded in a foggy haze, it’s as if we’re observing the scene through a veil, as if our eyes aren’t fully focused yet as we arise from our slumber. Even the sun cannot fully penetrate, but only cast a suggestive, orange glow on the rippling water.

‘Voiles’ almost exclusively uses the whole tone scale, and with this unusual ‘soundscape’, Debussy creates a feeling of mystery, stillness and tranquility. We feel as if we’re floating on a wash of sound, carried effortlessly along on the water in an almost hypnotic trance.

A low repeating bass note also punctuates the texture, perhaps the beating ‘throb’ of the port as the workers bring its factories and industries back into life for a new day.

Take some time to listen and look

Anna Tsybuleva performing ‘Voiles’ by Debussy

Anna Tsybuleva gives a wonderfully sensitive and evocative performance of this piece.

So, take 4 minutes out of your schedule to be transported to the port of Le Havre. Let Monet’s painting and Debussy’s music carry you into another world, just for a little while…

‘Impression, Sunrise’ by Claude Monet