The Grand Illusion

This post gains its inspiration from my little brother's latest blog post, Illusions!! =D. (Yes, my little brother has a blog, which is mildly entertaining from time to time.) Upon viewing said post, my art nerd brain immediately jumped to M.C. Escher, the Dutch illusionist artist. I'm sure many are familiar with his etchings of 'impossible realities' and symmetrical decorative works... Jason, I think you might enjoy some of them!

Escher, Sky and Water, 1938

Escher, Relativity, 1951

Escher, Reptiles, 1943

I've nothing to add, really, so I'll let Aristotle do it for me:

The chief forms of beauty are order and symmetry and definiteness,

which the mathematical sciences demonstrate in a special degree.

– Aristotle, ‘Metaphysics’, Book XIII

Of course, Kant repudiates this, as Kant repudiates everything, but that's for another post some other day...

(End note: Yes, my blog title is a Styx song. And yes, Styx is a guilty pleasure. "Lady"? "Come Sail Away"? "MR. ROBOTO"?! Amazing.)