ESCHER - The Exhibition & Experience. A solo exhibition of over 200 works in Brooklyn

ARTHEMISIA presents

ESCHER. The Exhibition & Experience

A solo exhibition of over 200 works by M.C. Escher

June 08, 2018 – February 03, 2019

Industry City (34 – 34th Street, Building 6), Brooklyn, New York

Arthemisia, Italy’s leading art exhibition producer, will make its American debut with ESCHER. The Exhibition & Experience, an exhibition of over 200 works by the iconic Dutch artist M.C. #escher, from June 8, 2018 through February 3, 2019 at Brooklyn’s Industry City. The exhibition is curated by Mark Veldhuysen (curator of the M.C. #escher Foundation Collection for over thirty years) and Federico Giudiceandrea (one of the world’s foremost collectors of, and experts on, the art of M.C. Escher).

ESCHER. The Exhibition & Experience is the most important and the largest exhibition of M.C. #escher ever presented in the United States. The exhibition’s American premiere follows its wide success internationally – in cities including Rome, Bologna, Milan, Singapore, Madrid and Lisbon – where it has been attended by over 1 million visitors.

Maurits Cornelis #escher (1898 – 1972) is world renowned for his enigmatic sketches and paradoxical designs, executed with incredible detail and mathematic precision to create and construct impossible worlds. #escher had a natural intuition for mathematical drawings, and was captivated by repeating patterns of interlocking tessellations, and the paradoxical representations of infinity. Exploring the intersection between art, mathematics, science, and poetry, Escher’s works have fascinated and astounded generations of artists, architects, mathematicians, musicians, and designers alike.

A one-of-a-kind artist who used to say that “wonder is the salt of the earth,” #escher has broadened the imaginations and perspectives of generations of art lovers, through works in which everything is connected: science, nature, analytical rigor and aesthetic beauty.

“Escher was a singular artistic visionary, whose works still beguile and entrance wherever they are seen,” said curators Mark Veldhuysen and Federico Giudiceandrea. “We are thrilled to bring this exhibition to #newyork, and to expose new audiences, young and old, to an artist whose vast influence can be felt throughout the spectrum of contemporary culture.”

ESCHER. The Exhibition and Experience is produced and organized by Arthemisia in collaboration with the M.C. #escher Foundation, promoted by Industry City and is curated by Mark Veldhuysen and Federico Giudiceandrea.

The catalogue is published by Maurits.

The exhibition space is designed by Corrado Anselmi Studio.

For further information eschernyc@arthemisia.it

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The exhibition highlights Escher’s journey as an artist – from his earlier works of nature and landscape in the 1920s and 1930s, to the figurative and abstract art developed in the late 1930s, through the 1960s when he sought to explore infinity. Some of his works are instantly recognizable, and have lent inspiration to the popular culture of our time. The last gallery of the exhibition is dedicated to artists, designers, fashion designers, singers and film directors who have been inspired by Escher’s work.

Included in the exhibition are some of Escher’s most iconic and recognizable masterpieces, including Hand with Reflecting Sphere, Relativity, Belvedere, Eye, Metamorphosis, Day and Night and Waterfall.

In addition to the #escher works on display, the exhibition includes scientific experiments, play areas and educational resources that will help visitors of all ages to understand the impossible perspectives, disquieting images and seemingly irreconcilable universes which #escher combined to create a unique artistic dimension. Among these special installations will be immersive photo booths constructed to emulate Escher’s hypnotic environments. Visitors will be able to photograph themselves “inside” the worlds of M.C. #escher, the Relativity Room, which turns normal size and scale on its head, and the “Infinity Room,” in which visitors can see their reflection repeated, seemingly, into infinity.

ESCHER. The Exhibition & Experience is divided into seven thematic sections:

• Early period and Italy
• Tessellation
• Structure of space
• Metamorphosis
• Geometrical paradoxes
• Commissioned work
• “Eschermania”

Early period and Italy

This first section highlights Escher’s rapport with Art Nouveau. The link between the future engraver – a student at the time – and this important international current was his teacher, Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita. The influence from Art Nouveau is one of the distinguishing features of Escher’s early style and it also sparked his future interest in tessellation, or the regular division of the plane.

Additionally, in this section, Escher’s close relationship with Italy – a country where the artist spent much of his life between 1921 and 1935 – is dealt with in depth.

Tessellation

The crucial turning point in Maurits Cornelis Escher’s artistic development was his second visit to the Alhambra and Cordoba in 1936. While the artist had already developed a considerable interest in tessellation through his Art Nouveau training, this second visit to the Alhambra led him to embark on a meticulous study of the patterns used to decorate the extraordinary Moorish palace. He then became passionate about tessellations: geometric decorations in which triangles, stars or squares repeat like tiles to cover a plane without leaving any gaps.

Structure of space

Escher was always fascinated by reflective surfaces. His first self-portrait on curved mirrors dates from 1921. The sphere reflecting rays from all directions shows the whole surrounding area. Hence the eyes of the viewer are always at the center; the viewer comes to perceive the self at the center of the universe. Thus, the Self (as #escher himself writes) is the undisputed protagonist at the center of the world, which revolves around it.

Yet we find more than just spheres in this section: two-dimensional shapes are juxtaposed with solids through the tessellating of space according to an endless range of possible compositions, as in the 1955 work Depth, which seems to reproduce the disposition of atoms in the element iron (Fe). #escher was keenly interested in metals and crystals, and he studied all the laws governing their molecular arrangement in space.

Metamorphosis

This section takes its title from Metamorphosis, one of Escher’s greatest masterpieces. The work depicts a whirl of transformations based on different forms of tessellation and logical and formal resemblances, culminating with a view of Atrani, a village on the Amalfi coast that the artist was very fond, of and where he spent his honeymoon. #escher depicted Atrani in 1931; By comparing the two engravings visitors will realize that the landscapes in Escher’s ‘conceptual’ works after 1936, the year he left Italy, are – with few exceptions – Italian. It is as though, deprived of the landscape that inspired him, #escher found inspiration in inner mental structures that were rooted in his memories of the time spent in Italy.

Geometric paradoxes

This section focuses on two scientific domains that are of crucial importance to Escher’s art: mathematics and geometry. Between #escher and the mathematicians of his day ran a thin yet crucial line; the attraction between them, however, was a mutual and fruitful one. The Dutch genius was capable of turning his fantasies into images and this captured scientists’ attention, leading to a dialogue with the world of science that continued even beyond the artist’s death.

Print Gallery (1956) is a refined version of the “image within the image,” also known as the Droste Effect (a name that derives from the tin of the famous Dutch cocoa). This effect spawned a scientific debate which raged on for forty-seven years, as scientists grappled with a problem that seemed unsolvable on account of its enigmatic complexity – a mystery on which #escher himself attempted to shed light through his work.

The Droste Effect makes this work appear incomplete, because of the difficulty of joining it at the center. #escher placed his signature in the empty space that remained. The mystery of this ‘hole’ left by #escher and of whether it is possible to fill it was solved by Hendrik Lenstra, a mathematician from Leiden University, in 2003.

Commissioned work

This section illustrates Escher’s ‘everyday’ activity, with works intended to meet clients’ requirements more than the goals of his own personal artistic research. However, this does not make the works in question any less notable. Like all great artists, in creating bookplates and visiting cards for various clients, #escher never betrayed his own art, but rather adopted an original and immediately recognizable approach. Indeed, these projects offered #escher valuable opportunities to experiment with solutions that he would later use for his masterpieces.

“Eschermania”

Escher’s art left the confines of the studio and was transformed into gift boxes, postage stamps and greeting cards; it entered the world of comics and cartoons and ended up on the LP sleeves of famous bands like Pink Floyd; it even found its way into television advertisements and feature films. This section of ESCHER. The Exhibition & Experience explores the vast impact that M.C. Escher’s unmistakable and iconic work has had on entertainment, consumer goods, and popular culture through the present day.

ABOUT THE CURATORS

Mark Veldhuysen

Mark Veldhuysen is the CEO of the M.C. #escher Company, and has been the curator of the M.C. #escher Foundation Collection for over thirty years. One of the world’s leading experts on #escher, he is close friends with the artist’s sons and has led joint lectures with George #escher, the artist’s eldest son.

Federico Giudiceandrea

Federico Giudiceandrea is one of the world’s foremost collectors of the works of M.C. #escher. He has lent works toward and curated M.C. #escher exhibitions in Italy, Singapore, Spain, and Portugal, among others. He is also the CEO of MiCROTEC, based in Italy.

ABOUT INDUSTRY CITY

Industry City is a 6 million-square-foot mixed-use complex comprised of 16 buildings spanning 35 acres on the waterfront in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The property’s ownership – led by Belvedere Capital, Jamestown and Angelo Gordon & Co. – is transforming the complex, while cultivating a diverse tenant mix that fuses today’s burgeoning innovation economy with traditional manufacturing and artisanal craft. To date, the transformation has included over $250 million of infrastructure improvements, the addition of destination courtyards, experience-driven dining, retail and other amenitization and event programing. This work is paving the way toward a vibrant and diverse community of forward-thinking companies that support good-paying jobs for workers across skill and experience levels. Since the new partnership was forged in August 2013, businesses based at Industry city have grown by an average of 100 jobs per month, increasing employment from 1,900 jobs in 2013 to more than 6,500 jobs today. www.industrycity.com  

ABOUT ARTHEMISIA

Arthemisia is Italy’s leading company for the production, organization, and staging of art exhibitions. #arthemisia has introduced and consolidated a new way of creating exhibitions, and is now a national and international point of reference for the organization and production of high quality art events. Since 2000, #arthemisia has produced more than 500 exhibitions, many of which have launched innovative trends in exhibition organization.

ABOUT THE ARCHITECT

Corrado Anselmi

The Corrado Anselmi Studio, based in Milan, Italy, works mainly in the recovery of historical contexts and is specialized in the design of permanent and temporary museum displays. Previous exhibition designs include: “Inside Caravaggio” at Palazzo Reale, Milan; “Picasso. Capolavori dal Museo Picasso, Parigi” at Palazzo Ducale Genoa; “Rembrandt and His Time. Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection” at National Museum of China, Bejing; “Basquait” at MUDEC Milan, and “Leonardo Da Vinci 1452-1519” at Palazzo Reale, Milan.

Selected artwork images from ESCHER. The Exhibition & Experience are available for download HERE.

General exhibition details:

Venue:

Industry City (34 34th Street, Building 6), Brooklyn, NY

Preferred subway route: Take the D, N, or R train to the 36th Street (Brooklyn) stop

www.industrycity.com 

Public opening dates:

June 08th, 2018 – February 03rd, 2019

Opening Times:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday Sunday from 10.00 am to 7.00 pm

Thursday 10.00 am to 9.00 pm

(The ticket office closes an hour before closing time)

Pricing:

Full $20 (18-64)

Reduced $15 (seniors 65+, military personnel)

Students with ID $15 (18-26)

Youths $13 (12-17)

Children $6 (5-11)

Adult groups $15 (min. 15 max. 30 – booking required – microphone system included in the price)

School groups $6 K-17 (min. 15 max. 30 – booking required – microphone system included in the price)

“University” Monday $12 every Monday with Student ID

Partner school students $12

Skip the line $25

Exhibition audio guide is complimentary

Exhibition website:

www.EscherNYC.com

#EscherNYC