Project Description

INKTOBER 52 2024 Week #16: BALL.

“I first learned about M.C. Escher sometime in high school, but I’m not exactly sure when or the circumstance. It was possibly a print I got to look at in one of my art classes (which were all fantastic. I was fortunate to have an amazing teacher who left a massive impression on me as well as countless other young artists). It was the famous ‘Hand with Reflective Ball’, which launched a long fascination with different reflective surfaces and how the world warps when you stare deeply into them. I don’t think I had ever really stopped to think too much about what was going on with the highlights and strong darks on shiny reflective surfaces. At that point, my understanding of the physics of it all was influenced by the abstract way comic artists rendered metal. It was fascinating to take the time to gaze into a reflective ball and try to identify what everything actually was.
That Escher print inspired me to attempt my own renderings of the world viewed through shiny things. I bought a pair of those meditative metal Tai Chi balls and set up a still life which included a small mirror, a block of wood, a rotating cast of friends sitting around me, and a knife for good measure. I don’t know how many hours I pumped into that one piece in my senior year of high school, but it was by far the longest I had spent focused on a single piece of art by that point. It won some kind of state-wide award, too, which was a good thing to be able to include in my portfolio submissions to colleges later that year. I think I called it ‘Pastiche of Persistence’ or something like that.
I continued exploring reflective surfaces a bit in college, too, and I still enjoy finding opportunities to get lost in those warped realities.”

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