Hi John! .
~Please view this on your laptop or desktop so you can enlarge
each image and see it in a dark tonal viewing environment
~ Any formatting and writing issues will be corrected later.
~Each image has a project I. D. number, but the numbers do not necessarily
appear in their sequential order due to my constant editing.
~The N before the I.D. number indicates that the symmetrical image was constructed
or printed specifically for this project (which I began in Mid-December 2025).
~The P indicates the image had been made prior to that date.
I have introduced a new print size for this project: 15x15" on 20x24" paper
~ The introduction and Epilogue are still works in progress
~Thanks for taking a look. Comments of all kinds are welcome.
~ I know I have failed already at Gloria's request to use fewer words.
Homage to
M. C. Escher
And Robert Lutz's film:
M.C. Escher ~ Journey To Infinity
&
Waldemar Januszczak's film:
"MANNERISM"
Art's Wildest Movement
(1520-1590)
Welcome to my new blog project,
a "Wonder Room" filled with
Many Photographic Curiosities
Introduction
I did not see this Homage project coming. There have been many other Homage projects that have unfolded for me from a deep sense of respect, gratitude and appreciation to the artists and subjects I have come to love over a long period of time. This project, on the contrary, was completely unexpected and and it took me totally by surprise thanks to a synchronistic falling-together-in-time (in a way that was extraordinarily meaningful to me) when in mid-January, 2026 I viewed two videos--one right after the other: Robin Lutz's excellent film, made in 2021, entitled M.C. Escher ~ Journey to Infinity and Waldemar Januszczak's most recent 2025 three-part vide0 entitled Art's Wildest Movement: MANNERISM.
I had decided to watch Journey to Infinity again (which I purchased from Amazon.com in October 2023 after my first viewing of it) because of two pictures I included in my recently published blog project, Humor, images of an upside-down stairways that reminded me of the many popular images Escher had made of impossible and infinitely unfolding & circling stair steps. (I have included those same two images in this project (see below, images #1A & #1B)
Immediately after I finished watching Journey to Infinity I received a notice from Amazon informing me they had just added Januszcsak's new 3-part video on Mannerism to their website. I have seen all of his Art History videos on Amazon, and I have come to really appreciate his rather funny but insightful approach to his productions on many aspects of Art History movements. As the two video experiences began to merge together in my mind, it occurred to me that it might be possible for me to create a photography project on the two subjects.
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In 1972 I devoted my MFA written thesis requirement at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, focused mostly on the photographers Alfred Stieglitz & Edward Weston, and the "Father" of modern depth psychology, Carl Jung--in particular his work on the structure of the psyche (conscious, unconscious, ego, shadow, etc.) and most importantly his ideas about a Unified psyche which he termed the Self. I was also fascinated by his ideas about the True archetypal nature of Symbols and how that related to Creative Process of medieval alchemy and the idea creating gold out of raw materials, like lead. Then, as I worked through my rather long paper, the very heart of my thesis turned out to be Jung's theories on Synchronicity.
I had to mention that here for synchronicity has once again spontaneously initiated yet another photography project for me with the most unexpected results, and there are several Jungian ideas that can be related to Escher's work.
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In the last ten days of January 2026, as I struggled to write this introduction, I was also being horrified by the news reports of a second innocent civilian being violently attacked and murdered--shot dead, multiple times--by federal agents. Two needless and unforgivable killings in less than two weeks!!! The news and images that were being shown and written about each and every day, all day long, about how the most vulnerable and innocent people are being attacked, and then badly damaged physically and emotionally when they were placed in detention centers--operating under the most horrible conditions--and in many cases separated from their loved ones and their children . . . all of which was initiated by our own Federal Government. This horrible news has certainly creeped into this project in various ways, sometimes in obvious ways, sometimes in unconscious ways. I could never have imagined the way our country's democracy is being so violently and dramatically attacked from the inside of our Federal Government. It has been heartbreaking to watch.
This project has been for me both a kind of refuge . . . and at the same time a way to give voice to my feelings in ways I had never before felt would be appropriate or necessary in my work. And importantly, I understand now that has happened in 2025 has helped me to bond with M. C. Escher (1898-1972) who had himself experienced--multiple times--similar situations in his life.
Regarding My Homage Projects
Over the years I have made many photography projects in Homage to composers and musicians (Steve Lacy, Thelonious Monk, Morton Feldman) and painters (Morandi and Robert Ryman). I have made projects in Homage to poet Robert Bly and his excellent book "News of the Universe" in which his essay on Thing or Object poems inspired me to create a large body of work which I call Thing Centered Photographs. I have paid Homage to the sculptor/painter Giacometti, to a meadow, a woods, a garden and the Milwaukee Parks; I have paid homage to Angels, Ghosts, a River, a Lake, water falls, a brook, and snow; I have devoted projects in Homage to my family life, my practice of Siddha Yoga, and Coleman Barks' wonderful translations of Rumi poems, Landinsky's translations of poems by Hafiz . . . and more. (See the complete list of my Homage blog projects.)
But this project is different from the others. There is a different kind of "weird" and "fiery" quality in my collection of images for this project which was inspired I believe by Januszczak's enthusiastic, funny and yet quite serious video on Mannerism. Januszczak tells us, even as young child he became fascinated by the Mannerist painter El Greco, who used bright colors and elongated figures in his paintings. El Greco's paintings set a fire in Januszczak which led him to pursue what would become his life's work as an Art Historian.
Regarding M.C. Escher
Robin Lutz's fascinating film, M.C. Escher ~ Journey to Infinity (released in 2021) provided me with a deeper and more personal way to appreciate the life Escher lived, the ideals he pursued, the deep love he felt for his wife Jetta, and his attraction to Islamic Art. I often saw myself in what I learned about Escher in the film. Escher clearly took refuge in his art work, which was based very much in mathematics and he thrived on the of solitude and highly focused attention that his printmaking demanded of him.
The film brings Esher's work quite literally to life with the use of animation--something Esher wrote about and expressed interest in. He believed it would be the ideal medium for the kind of ideas that he explored throughout his life as a printmaker. And the film clearly explains (visually and in Escher's own words) his deep fasciation with the overwhelming number of non-figurative, interlocking-repeating geometric and floral patterns that pervades the Alhambra, images which in most cases were intended to celebrate the divine idea of the Infinite. His love of Islamic Art began to blossom for him when he first visited the Alhambra, in Granada, Spain in 1922 . . . followed by a second visit in 1936 with Jetta.
I too share Escher's fascination with Perceptual ambiguity, Image Repetition, Symmetry, and the concepts of Unity, Infinity and Endlessness . . . Above all, Escher was interested in connecting, uniting and transforming things together; or, said in another way, "closing the circle." He made several images involving the mobius loop.
My obsession with the True living Symbol relates directly to Escher's need to unite things. My MFA Written My Thesis entitled The Symbolic Photograph A Means to Self Knowledge was based in the idea that everything in our dualistic world originates from the inner-world of the mind or psyche, and that True Symbols are images which unite or conjoin inner psychic images with their outer-world physical counterparts, something I often experience in synchronistic moments of a spontaneous recognition of something deeply, personally meaningful. (Visit my blog essay Seeing the Grand Canyon)
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The film Journey to Infinity gives an intimate account of how Escher moved through the world as an introverted artist with the many personal challenges he had been faced with throughout his life, and often because of horrors associated with politics and Wars . . . which he needed to escape from. For example Escher's lithograph Bond of Union (see below), a 1956 portrait of himself and his wife Jetta, reveals an almost cosmic-transcendent connection he had experienced with her. It is literally an image of his psychic Union with a woman who had suffered severe mental health problems, most probably beginning with her family's forced departure from Russia to Findland in 2017 (when Jetta was 19 years old) because of the Russian Revolution. When Jetta was around 23 years old, and living in Findland, she experienced near starvation and the slaughter of many people close to her. She and her family moved to Italy in 2022.
Escher had moved to Italy at about that same time. He met Jetta Italy, and though she was very pretty, pictures of Jetta made in Italy at that time show her as being noticeably emaciated and sad, or most probably depressed. Escher fell madly in love with Jetta and they married in 1924. They lived a relatively happily life together for the next eleven years until the growing oppression of Mussolini's rule forced them to leave Italy and move to Switzerland in 1935. Then, in 1941 Escher and Jetta moved to the Netherlands due to the rising pressures of World War II.
Esher and Jetta separated in 1968 probably due to Jetta's depression and a growing feeling of loneliness which to some extent at least was probably due to Escher's introverted nature and his need to take refuge in his art work. Jetta moved to the Netherlands to live with their youngest son in Switzerland. She died in 1987 at the age of ninety; Escher died in 1972 at the age of eighty four. (Visit "The Hidden emotions in Escher's work.")
Escher Bond of Union 1956 Lithograph
Escher "Stars" 1948 Woodcut
Esher's 1948 woodcut (above) entitled Stars is related to Bond of Union in the way that the two images conjoin opposites (male-female in Bond, and the mythic/alchemical Lizard-like natural forms bound up in mathematical-geometrical forms in Stars). Also, in both images everything is suspended in dark cosmic space . . . with an infinite number of different sized balls in Bond of Union (atoms? planets? worlds?) and different sized geometrical shapes in Stars.
Regarding Escher's repeated works dealing with the metamorphosis of one image, object or space into another, and his particular interest in stairs . . . the 1953 lithograph entitled "Relativity" (below) tests our ability to remain aware of what is ambiguously unfolding before our eyes while at the same time our brain and our "eyeballs" are being tickled (or agitated) with Escher's impossible-irrational-puzzling space-time imagery.
Escher "Relativity" 1953 Lithograph
Escher "Sky and Water I" 1938 Woodcut
Regarding my own Creative Process
If you are not familiar with my work, I invite you to visit my two blog projects Triadic Memories and "An Imaginary Book" which explore many of the same kinds of visual problems which interested Escher.
In Triadic Memories (2003-007) I became fascinated with image repetition. In some pieces I present the viewer with various kinds of ambiguous perceptual challenges which Escher pursued constantly throughout his life, as in his 1953 lithograph "Relativity," and his 1938 woodcut "Sky and Water I" (immediately above).
I particularly like "Sky and Water" for it's simple, elegant, graphic symmetrical organization, its tonal inversions and subject matter transformations (i.e., the dark birds against a light ground transforming into light fish against a dark ground) all of which happens before our eyes simultaneously. I too use tonal inversions frequently in my work and you will see several examples of that in the collection of photographs I have presented below for this project.
In my "An Imaginary Book" (2011-13) I explore image repetition mostly in the form of four-fold symmetrical imagery. Like Escher, I too became fascinated with image repetition in Islamic Art. When my wife Gloria and I visited Turkey in 2011 for two weeks I not only saw but also experienced epiphanically very intense encounters with the mysteries of Islamic Sacred Art. These experiences inspired me to begin making my very first symmetrical photographs which I published in my blog's multiple-chaptered project "An Imaginary Book."
I devoted the entire year after my visit to Turkey researching (at first) the theme Sacred Art in general. But I pretty quickly focused on Islamic Sacred Art which I felt a strong affinity for as I read more and more about it. My research ignited a flame in me to visit Spain, which of course was the home of the great Mannerist El Greco, and the home of the Alhambra, and the Great Mosque of Cordoba which I had read so much about in my research.
"An Imaginary Book" became my first project in a long series of projects which were to become essentially a contemplation on the idea of Sacred Art within a contemporary art practice. (See my hyperlinked listing of Sacred Art Photography Projects.)
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My interest in Sacred Art did not just come out of the clear blue sky! I had loved the photographs and stories I encountered in the work and lives of Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston during my first two years of college--in the early 1960's--in the Photo program at RIT (Rochester, NY). I was impressed with Stieglitz's ideas about how a photograph could embody the feelings of the photographer, and Weston's ideas about how photographs could unveil the essential nature--the life force--which pervaded objects and things. Every week, after my History of Photography lectures by Beaumont Newhall at the George Eastman House Museum of Photography I would visit the display of photographs on the second floor of Steieglitz's cloud photographs and Weston's Green Peppers and Shells.
Siddha Yoga & Symbolic Photographs
In 1972 I devoted my MFA written thesis requirement at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, focusing on ideas of Stieglitz and Weston in relation to Carl Jung's research on archetypal symbols, the Creative Process of medieval Alchemy, the structure of the psyche, his transcendental theories about the Self, and Synchronicity.
In 1987 Gloria and I were invited (by one of Gloria's sisters) to take a two-day meditation program with Gurumayi Chivilasananda. On the second day of the intensive I had a very intense, visceral experience of Gurumayi's grace, the divine energy that pervades the Inner divine Self which--Gurumayi teaches--dwells in every Human Heart. I was overwhelmed by my experience of a divine presence, a feeling of waves upon waves of love, that pervaded my entire being while simultaneously I somehow recognized that this was an experience of the Oneness of Being.
Immediately after the intensive I began to meditate and study the teachings of the Siddha Yoga Masters on a daily basis. In a very natural way this led to the integration of my practice of Siddha Yoga with my practice of photographic picture-making. The desire to make Symbolic Photographs became all the more urgent for me after I had several experiences of Gurumayi's grace and eventually I came to understand that True Symbolic photographs are pervaded by a subtle radiance, and an unknowable kind of meaning that had more to do with the grace of my Creative Process and much less --or most probably, nothing--to do with what I thought I knew and understood.
I believe it was my practice of Siddha Yoga and Gurumayi's grace that had prepared me for all that I would experience in Turkey in 2011 and then in 2012 my deep appreciation for the Alhambra. When I learned of Escher's love of the Alhambra in the film Journey to Infiinity, and learned of his personal history, I felt it would be important to take a much closer and intimate look at his life and work.
A Symbolic Photograph is, for me, a sacred experience and a psychological (synchronistic) event which gives visual form to the idea of the Oneness of Being. Making True living Symbols, images which are radiant with an interior light which I attribute to the grace of my Creative Process, is important to me beyond words; making Symbolic Photographs helps me to remain connected to the grace of my yogic practices and it helps me to live more consciously aware of the way grace pervades all aspects of my life.
"MANNERISM"
I was not really familiar with the Art Movement (1520-1590) known as Mannerism until mid-January, 2026 when I initiated this project after seeing Waldemar Januszczak's series of three hour-long videos (2024-25) entitled Art's Wildest Movement: MANNERISM. I had known the painters El Greco and Arcimboldo, two of the greatest of the Mannerists, but I did not have a sense of the importance of the movement itself.
Briefly, the "Mannerist" movement originated in Italy around 1520 and then later moved into France and Prague and . . . the Netherlands--where, interestingly, M.C. Escher grew up, and, after many years of traveling the world and trying to avoid several horrible wars, he returned to the Netherlands in 1941 and lived there until his death in 1972.
Essentially "Mannerism" was a reaction to the naturalism and harmonious ideals of the High Renaissance Masters. The Mannerists' rejection of all that gave them the necessary permission to get totally "wild" and "Crazy" with their new, "strange," artistic inventions. (Januszczak's "words" in italics)
Januszczak's videos takes us on a wonderful visual journey to the places where Mannerism played itself out, and he shows us the actual works that he felt his audience must know about and where they were being presented at the time he was making his videos. He provides us with wonderful commentary on the historical, social and political contexts in which the movement took place, and he intimately shares with us his personal interpretations of particular works, and his childhood love of El Greco's paintings which initiated his love of art and Art History.
Regarding My "Quirky" Photographs
I recognized in many of the things Januszczak talked about in his Mannerism video certain aspects of my own work which I had always been curious about: photographs that I had come to refer to as Quirky. (Images which seemed to me oddball, spontaneous, unexpected, unusual, weird, unknowable, indeed THAT which I loved so much in the music of Theolonious Monk.)
I also understand that there are always contrary unconscious contents that try to factor into my Creative Process, perhaps imagery that needed released against my better judgement, images that expressed anger and frustration at what I was feeling was so very wrong with the world in which I was living. In the yoga I practice, there is a word for the age of dissonace which are clearly going through now: the "Age" (or Yuga) known in some yogic traditions as Kali Yuga. (Please visit my Kali Yuga blog project)
My Quirky images have often seemed to me to function on the very far fringes of what I had aspired to create in my more "sacred" art works. Nonetheless I have always recognized that my Quirky images did have a vital life of their own, a sense of freshness in their own unique ways that Januszczak talks frequently about, happening in every period of Art History!
I especially enjoy the ineffable & unknowable meanings . . . of the best of the Quirky images. In fact, in many ways this is no different from the way True living Symbols function for me. I like the way some of the Quirky images can be wonderfully disarming . . . and, of course, that was what Mannerism was very much about.
A Mannerist portrait ,by Arcimboldo
Like many things that begin as new, strange and challenging to a culture, Culture has a way of absorbing or devouring the New. Januszczak talks about how Mannerist art eventually began to be collected by the wealthy for their odd, eccentric and exotic differences. The Mannerist period (1520-1590) was a time when new, previously unknown worlds were being discovered around the globe, and all kinds of new and strange things were being collected and put on display for all to see. It was a time when people became attracted and paid attention to those things that were pervaded by unknown qualities. It was a time when it became all the rage for the very rich to acquire fascinating objects and present them in entire "Wonder Rooms" (and even entire buildings!) including the strangest examples of Mannerist art.
Later it became popular for people from many, less wealthy and prestigious walks of life to collect small, strange and fascinating objects and presented them in their Curiosity Cabinets.
A "Wonder Room" full of "Curiosities"
It seems to me my project has turned out to be something like a Curiosity Cabinet, or Wonder Room filled with my carefully selected Quirky works I have already made and the many new works I made in direct response to the two videos I had seen recently one after the other. And in that regard, I must say: I am content, even delighted to identify M.C. Escher himself as something of a Mannerist -- though, certainly he never did think of himself in that way. He liked to think of himself as a designer, and a "mathematician" . . . and even a scientist. He often pursued commercial work as a graphic artist when money was needed to care for his family of two children and Jetta.
Despite his intentions, many of Escher's art works became very popular with the 1960's hippy generation . . . Most of the books I have seen on Escher spend a great deal of time regarding the many ways Pop Culture began to commercialize and financially benefit from Escher's imagery, and quite often without seeking his permission to jazz the images up with psychedelic colors and turn them into novel pop culture objects. Escher's popularity only confused him. He understood the commercial world; but he could not understand why his art attracted so much weird interest.
I do believe Escher and his art works deserves to be better understood and appreciated. So if you haven't already seen this film, I hope you will view M.C. Escher ~ Journey to Infinity
Regarding the Two Parts of my Project
PART ONE
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I decided to present my photographs for this project in two collections: the FIRST PART presents only my Symmetrical photographs for in fairly obvious ways they relate most directly to Escher's love of image repetition, symmetry, unity and endlessness . . . the Infinite. The second part includes my "Straight" photographs.
My symmetrical photographs are--in the most literal sense--images which give form to the idea of the Oneness of Being simply in the way that they are constructed. Most of my symmetrical images consist of four identical images conjoined--at the very center point of the image, into a unified visual whole. The symmetrical images are often filled with surprising and wonderful visual transformations, though in the spirit of being clear about my symmetrical photographs, they are not necessarily True living Symbols.
If an image I have made does not radiate a subtle kind of interior light or feeling that I attribute to the grace of my Creative Process . . . I most often will probably discard the image. Some symmetrical images have value even if they are not True living Symbols, but my ultimate goal as a visual artist and as a student of yoga, is to make images which have a presence of grace for it is grace--and nothing else--which transforms a photographic image into a True living Symbol.
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I do sense a spiritual presence in some of Escher's works, but I'm not aware that Escher ever saw or considered his work in that way. He probably found it very difficult to talk about his lithograph entitled Bond of Union which I find to be a very powerful, mysterious and heartfelt image.
(I can't help but wonder if Escher's interest in the Islamic work he saw in the Alhambra (twice in his life) was in part due to an unconscious or intuitive identification with the great spiritual traditions of Islam and its Sacred Art which, I believe, to some degree he did become awakened to during his two visits to the Alhambra.)
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I had first discovered the power of repeating patterns in my own work while making Chromatic Fields (and other forms of repeating images) for my multi-part project Triadic Memories (2002-07) which was inspired by the contemporary music of American composer Morton Feldman. Feldman's music was inspired by the Turkish rugs he loved and collected.
Directly related to my Chromatic Fields are the symmetrical photographs I began making after I traveled to Turkey in 2011. Part of the reason I wanted to go to Turkey was my hope that by experiencing the place where the very best ancient, Turkish rugs were made I would somehow better understand Feldman's music. When I was able to at last visit the amazing Turkish and Islamic Art Museum in Istanbul, which has the most amazing display of original ancient carpets, I was very impressed indeed . . . But I was even more impressed by the illuminated Qur'ans I saw on display, and one in particular which set off in me an remarkable inner experience that I have written about in my first chapter of my "Imaginary Book" entitled Prayer Stones.
As I became experienced in the process of creating Chromatic Field images, I learned, as did Escher, that it was much more practical and efficient to create pattern fragments for my Chromatic Fields which could then be easily connected together into larger visual fields that could suggest or serve as a metaphor for a never-ending, Infinite unfolding of transforming patterns. In the film Journey to Infinity we are given the remarkable opportunity to see animated versions of some of his prints, and even a short glimpse of Escher at work using this technique of image fragments to create his late, very special 1969 woodcut print entitled Snakes:
M.C. Escher "Snakes" 1969 Woodcut print
This symmetrical, circular image of infinitely repeating motifs--an image which originates from its own center point . . . and expands outwardly . . . relates in some obvious ways to the 1956 Bond of Union lithograph. The archetypal imagery of snakes is especially meaningful to me--or probably anyone who has studied alchemy or is familiar with the many yogic paths being practiced today--for the snake represents in those traditions sacred, purifying, creative-transforming energy. In certain yogic traditions, that energy is known as Kundalini Shakti, which is said to lay dormant (and coiled-up, like a snake) near the base of the spine--in every human being--waiting to become awakened by that creative energy. Once awakened this mysterious, divine energy embarks upon a vertical journey of transformation along the path of the spine, purifying the many subtle energy centers called chakras. Its destination is reached when it merges its sacred energy with the uppermost chakra located in the top part of the head. The yogic practices--especially mediation--are the means by which students of yoga can invoke and awaken the grace of Kundalini. I have already mentioned how my photographic practice also helps me stay in touch with the grace that is directly connected to my Creative Process.
In the yoga I practice, spiritual realization is achieved when the inner divine Self--which is said to exists in every Human Heart--merges with the the yogi's mind. Carl Jung's concept of a unified mind was very similar to the yogic idea, and he too spoke of that psychic unity as the Self, which was for him the goal of the psychological process he called Individuation.
Escher's image Snakes could be interpreted or even experienced by some as a spiritual, uniting Symbol. The image literally represents the phenomena of spiritual-creative energy (the snake) emerging from the infinitely small point at the very center of the image and then expanding outward and upward . . . and finally merging (intertwining) with Itself. ~ The image was constructed with three identical image fragments which were united with each other to create the whole. This is something that we see in many of Escher's metamorphosing works . . often mesmerizing and magical images which serve as visual metaphors for the concept: The Oneness of Being.
I have a wonderful quote to share with you, by Keith Critchlow, author of the book entitled Islamic Patterns An Analytical and Cosmological Approach which addresses what I have been writing about. You will note that he uses the term "inner Self" . . . "the point" . . . "unity". . . "eternity" . . . "a subject grounded in mystery" . . . "mathematics" . . . "circles" . . . "just being" and more. Here is the quote:
Islam’s concentration on geometric patterns [which are based upon mathematical laws of repetition] draws attention away from the representational world to one of pure forms, poised tensions and dynamic equilibrium, giving structural insight into the workings of the inner self and their reflection in the universe.
The circle is the archetypal governing basis for all the geometric shapes that unfold within it . . . reflecting the unity of its original source, the point, the simple, self-evident origin of geometry and a subject grounded in mystery.
The circle has always been regarded as a symbol of eternity, without beginning and without end, just being . . . In the effort to trace origins in creation, the direction is not backwards but inwards.
Speaking of circles you will probably notice that there are lots of circles in the photographs I have included in this project, both the symmetrical images and the "straight images." I have often referred to my symmetrical images as "circular" (or round) images. I have even understood--in certain moments of lucidity--that the square format I use most of the time in my work is a "circular" or "round" format.
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I want to conclude the Part One section regarding my project, with two additional quotes: the first one is by Escher that was used at the very end of the film M.C. Escher ~ Journey to Infinity:
I pursue a vision that cannot be realized. My prints that were made with the primary aim of making something beautiful, simply cause me headaches. That is why I never feel fully at home amongst my [artist] colleagues. They pursue beauty first and foremost. Perhaps I only pursue wonder.
The second related quote is by Januszczak which he uses at the beginning of each of the three parts of his video series Art's Wildest Movement: MANNERISM:
"Between 1520 and 1590 a new movement appeared in art.
It produced art that was strange, wild and inventive.
And it filled the world with wonders"
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PART TWO
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The second part of my project consists of mostly "Straight Photographs" though many of the images are anything but straight-forward recordings of what was in front of the camera's lens when I made the exposure. I love to transform or improvise on my "straight" images--and every other kind of image I make--for I love the idea of Re-vision. I have often made multiple transformed versions or variations of some of my most favorite source images --those images I have used for constructing my four-fold symmetrical photographs.
I am usually as astonished as other viewers when I see the end results of "my" Creative Process. In the yoga I practice, it is said that the Human Heart is the interior source for everything that we perceive in the outer world. The Heart, then, is the True source of grace, or what I call inspiration; and it is the grace (or shakti) that dwells in the Heart that manifests an inner image into the outer form of a photographic image radiant with interior light, a subtle creative energy that transforms a mere image of the outer-world into an image that functions for me as a True, living Symbol.
The straight photographs that I have placed in the second part of this project are probably more difficult for most viewers to grasp in regards to the issue of grace and the idea of the Symbolic image. It's tricky even for my personally. It takes time to tune into the subtle realm of meaning of True Symbols--a meaning that most probably will transcend human intellect and language because they are nothing more than instruments of the dualistic world we appear to inhabit.
The best, quickest and most intimate way to emerge myself in an image that seems to be functioning as an True Symbol involves a yogic practice which I have learned to apply to my photographic images. I imaginatively enter into the image and have a silent dialogue with it. It's mostly about listening to what the image needs to say to me. To learn more about the process, I invite you to visit my project: Contemplating True, living Symbolic Photographs.
(I must pause here, to add: though I often use the term "I" and "my" out of convenience when I talk about my Creative Process--usually I do not feel like the one doing the real creative work. That's most often a spontaneous impulse that wells up from within me, an impulse that generates "my" most meaningful works. In other words, I serve mostly as a messenger or facilitator, and a Witness to what the grace of my Creative Process has spontaneously--unthinkingly-- manifested.)
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Like the Mannerists and their collectors, I have included in this project all kinds of images: straight and symmetrical; images with many kinds of subjects, many types of photographs, including for example: abstract portraits of people, faint or out-of- focus pictures of animals, large pictures of small insects; tonnaly inversed images; pictures "of"ghosts, angels & nature sprites . . . even images that narrate an emotionally charged real, personal story based in mythological archetypes . . . and, well, "whatever else" you may discover on your own in this "Cabinet of Curiosities," images that I hope will invoke in you a sense of Wonder.
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I will conclude this Introductory Statement with the words Januszczak uses at the conclusion of the third, last part of his video series on Mannerism:
Mannerism had many faces. [Some perverse but also some sublime.] . . . Mannerism "did" many things: it did "fear" and "love", "anger" and "religion," "mythology" and "sex." And it did all of them in new ways . . . It jumped so happily from medium to medium . . . and from small to very large [for example from jewelry to sculpture to architecture] . . . Was there ever an art movement that achieved as much on as many fronts as Mannerism? No, I don't think so.
A brief note regarding "How to Best View My Blog-Published Images"
If you are viewing this project on a desktop computer or a laptop, I encourage you to click on the images once, then once again; this hopefully will enlarge the image and present it in a dark tonal alternative viewing environment at its maximum viewing quality in terms of image sharpness, luminance, tonal gradations, etc. You can then use your zoom-in & zoom-out options to adjust the image size, and you can darken or lighten the screen brightness with keyboard controls (or file menu options) to suite your particular viewing preferences in relation to your computer. For a further explanation, or if clicking on the images don't place you in the alternate viewing space, please visit this blog page for additional technical information and options: How to Best View My Online Blog Project Images
A few bits of Additional information:
Each image in the project exists as an inkjet print made with the highest quality paper and inks. ~ The size of the print is given under the image on the far right side. ~ And each image has an I.D. # which I have placed under the far left side of image. However, please don't concern yourself with the numerical progression, as it is often broken due to editorial decisions I have made in the process of changing the project's ordering of the images within its vertical format. ~ Images that were created and printed new and specifically for this project has the letter N preceding the ID number; and Images that were made and printed prior to the creation of this project will have the letter P preceding the ID number. ~ I have provided a title for each image on the second line beneath the image, in "Italics and in quotation marks" and I have--when it seemed necessary or at least helpful--included some commentary under selected images and provided links to some of my other related projects. ~ Welcome to the project. SF
Part One:
The Symmetrical
Photographs
________________________________________
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#1A Inkjet print, straight photograph 12x12"
"Upside-down stairs"
(a straight photograph turned upside down)
This image, from my early
served as the Source image for the symmetrical variation below #1B. Most of
the black and white images you will see in this project have come from the 1994-2000 project.
It was the image above (#1A) which initiated the idea for this entire project, in mid-December, 2025 shortly after
I had watched--again--the excellent film: MC Escher - Journey to Infinity which I had purchased on
Amazon.com after seeing it the first time in October, 2023.
The image above (#1A) and the image below (#1B) were published in early December, 20205 in my Humor
12x12" Inkjet Print blog project simply because they reminded me of M C Escher's black and white prints.
Though the images are not so humorous, they did bring a smile upon my face when I studied them
closely. I remain charmed by the perceptual surprise they both quietly present--the way they
appear to be simultaneously "up right" and "upside down." I find myself going up &
down & all around in circles. These two images have sparked all the new
pictures you will seeing in this project, below.
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#1B Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Circular Upside-down Staircase . . .
Infinitely ascending and descending"
"Concrete Bridge" (structural details--Vertical version)
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#17 Symmetrical Photograph 21x21"
"A Man Falling off a ladder into the starry sky"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#18 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"A Nocturnal Mystery (with four heads or eyes or moons) hovering over Lake Michigan"
(This image of Lake Michigan on Milwaukee shores was made in 30 degrees below zero weather.
The camera malfunctioned, and leaking light transformed the film's latent image
with an unexpected light.)
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#7 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Road Curb, and Light reflected in Rain Puddles"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#19 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15
"Angel Wings"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#6 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"A Blur of Whirling Sufi Dancers"
Stack%20of%20Wood%20Palets%20with%20stripes%20of%20sunlight%20and%20shadow%20%20%20copy.jpg)
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#2 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Light & shadow-streaked stacks of wood pallets"
This photograph is a mystery for me. When I came upon the digital file
I had made of this image made originally on black and white film
it excited me and I knew immediately that it would make a
strong symmetrical image for this project. The stacks
of light & shadow streaked wood pallets reminded
me of my favorite Escher woodcut prints that
I had seen in one of four books I owned.
I have not been about to find that published image!
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#3-H Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Concrete Bridge (structural details, Horizontal version)"
The vertical version of this image was presented above.
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#23 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Shooting hoops alone at the neighborhood school playground"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#22 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Garage facade with basketball hoop & backboard"
"Industrial Park Fenced-off Space"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#4 Symmetrical Photograph 12x12"
"Street scene with tree branches in the foreground; parked cars in the background"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#31 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Dancing tree shadows"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#8 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Fishing Poles & lines suspended over circling waters"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#9 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
Dogs running up and down the sand dunes
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#10 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Shadow Truck with eight metal rimed tires"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#11 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Long White Hooded Figure with a short dark shadow"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#12 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Man Entangled in a web of his own making"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#42 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Symmetrical "Dream Portrait" with an image painted by Rousseau of a man and his hand." (photo collage)
Homage to Escher N#15 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
Children at play ~ Reaching-For & Holding-Up "The Big Ball"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#14 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Man covering his face with one hand; his other hand is
placed upon the soaped store window with the spider-like shadows"
I was about to take a picture of the soaped-up window with the shadows
when the man unexpected struck that pose for me.
%20x%2017%22(w)%20Symm%20%20rainbow%20colored%20arms%20&%20hads%20above,%20dark%20below%20%20%20IMG_9209%20%20copy.jpg)
Double-Symmetrical Photograph
"Rainbow colored arms & hands--left and right sides;
and in the middle . . .
Only hands are visible; the arms are in dark boxes "
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#65 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Black and White Birds Flying in a Positive / Negative Grid formation"
"Black and White Birds forming a circle in flight"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#21 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Chatham Lane houses in the fog--
viewed from inside the meadow"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#20 Two Fold Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Ghost of the Hudson River Duality"
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"Meadow-Fog Fantasy"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#119 Two-fold Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
A dead tree in Maine's Acadia National Park with a Strange frightening Angelic Presence"
I find this photograph both funny and frightening. I included the image in my
project Angelic Presence.
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#25 Two Fold Symmetrical Photograph 16x20"
"Man-ghost standing in a box contemplating his lived life
looking through dual circular mirrors . . . or are they rings of fire?"
"Young boys looking down into the Universe"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#29 Symmetrical Photograph 12x12"
"Fish Conjoined Under Water"
"Ancient Cave-like Paintings
discovered by grandparents on the inside
surface of their picture window"
There are only a few days in the spring each year when the sun
hits our picture window just at the right angle to illuminate
all this kind of cave-art-like markings.
Symmetrical Child's Drawing with Blue Tape
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#58 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Chair Shadows in the warm light of Fall"
"Four Suspended Blue Birds"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#40 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Sea Lions swimming in the light on their stomachs, sides, & on their backs"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#67 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Pink Goldfish in a blue pond"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#137 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Rose hips, shadows and flies"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#30 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Bird Shadows on Venation Blinds with Light Streaks, and
a window in the background revealing blue sky"
"Mythic Birds & Mythic Cats--Conjoined"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#68 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"An Unnamed Mythic Creature of the woods--with two heads and many eyes"
See my project In the Woods
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#69 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Sunlight and shadows on sand forming a circular symmetrical disk"
"A Butterfly's Expanding Pulsating Light on a Garden's Stone Path"
"Ritual Circle in the Snow"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#100 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Meadow Plants in snow forming a path to infinite space & light"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#99 Four-fold Symmetrical Faint Photograph 15x15"
"Two Meadow Plants in the snow longing to connect and close the circle"
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Homage Escher & Mannerism P#90 Symmetrical Photographs 21x21"
"How tall is this water falls?" (A miniature water garden in the Alhambra, Spain)
There are four repeated waterfalls in this four-fold symmetrical photograph.
As I remember it the one falls that was in the miniature garden was
between 12-18" hight.
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#88 Symmetrical Photograph 21x21"
"Fish Feeding Time in an Alcatraz pond" (green eyes in the center version)
(Visit my project Crystalline Paradise: Moorish Spain)
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#89 Symmetrical Photograph 21x21"
"Khidr: Earth Angel, Green Man"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#91 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"The Blue Angel of Tears"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#39 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Angelic Lyre"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#87 Quirky Symmetrical Photographs 21x21"
"Mysteriously Dark Meadow Landscape with a Purple Sky"
"Shepherds resting in a blue shadow on a rocky hill with One Large Cloud on the horizon"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#54 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Illuminated still life inside a shadow"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#57 Symmetrical Photograph 16x20"
"Lamp Shades & an Infinite number of unfolding shadows"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#55 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Shadow Tourists Wandering Among Vatican Columns"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#70 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Pompeii Figures Under Glass with reflections of light"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#55 Symmetrical Photograph 16x20"
"Old Broken Garage suspended in black space"
I have been suspending things is black space since 2001 and the concept then, and that still
remains for me today is that black space represents silence, both in music and in the
most sacred of all spaces, the Human Heart. What we are now witnessing
in Minnesota by ICE agents---by orders from of our National Government
as a whole . . . is Heart Breaking.
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#56 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Young Father & Son in a room illuminated with florescent lights and an open door"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#138 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
(Air vents in the likeness of a Shiva Nataraja statue)
Visit my Photography and Yoga project
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#50 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Bedside Lamp and lampshade two shadows"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#49 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Double Chandeliers with dimmed lights, Conjoined"
"A Ceramic Bowl opening--revealing its interior light"
"Suspended South Meadow over an Orange Sunset with some blue clouded sky"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#143 Symmetrical Photograph 16x20"
"The Spark"
%20%20IMG_158%20%20copy.jpg)
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#51 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Winter Fantasy--Silver World
(Sunrise over ice covered bush limbs)"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#84 Symmetrical Photograph 21x21"
"The Witnessing Eye"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#52 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Windswept Pompeii Piazza"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#26 Symmetrical Photograph 16x20
"People standing together looking directly into
'The BIG Flash of Light'"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#59 Symmetrical Photograph 16x20"
"The secret language of meadow plants in snow"
"Two Stones thinking about each other"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#63 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Ice forms on an overhead Skylight Window"
"Frozen Fingers pointing toward cracks in the iced-over pond"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#61 Symmetrical Photograph 16x20"
"Morning Ghosts wandering around the Anchorage Alaska Airport"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#62 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Figure standing on her toes in Death Valley"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#60 Symmetrical Photograph 16x20"
"Two, Double Black and White Negative/Positive Headless figures
walking into the light / dark raining sky"
"A Bus Driver Encounters His Double in a Costa Rica Tourist Stop"
After I took this picture I hear a God-awful scream coming from one
After I took this picture I hear a God-awful scream coming from one
of the sleeping quarters. It was a woman's scream; and when we
all ran to see what was happening, she showed us the large
snake that had coiled up inside her room near the door.
"Dissolution in Fire"
Visit my project: Creation-Dissolution of A World
Visit my project: Creation-Dissolution of A World
"Maya's Terrifying Mask of Illusion in the Age of Kali Yuga"
Visit my two related projects:
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#120 Symmetrical Photograph 21x21"
"Niagara Falls: Ball of water with two masked figures"
Visit my project: Falling Water
"Snow Sprite" from my project "Silver World"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#28 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"River Sprites playing near a water falls"
from my project "Symmetrical River Songs"
"Leaves falling into the River" from my project "Symmetrical River Songs"
Symmetrical River Songs N#141 Inkjet Print 21x21"
"River Spider" from my project "Symmetrical River Songs"
Also, visit my project: River Songs
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#38 Symmetrical Photograph 21x21"
"The Mask of Circles over Infinity"
Islamic Sacred Art is often about the Infinite, endlessness, the eternal divine Presence.
See my blog project: "An Imaginary Book" and in particular the chapter Infinite Beauty : Texts
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#102 Symmetrical Photograph 21x21"
"Circular Sacred Garden"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#137 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Rock Flower" with Turquoise gems at its center"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#104 Symmetrical Photograph 21x21"
"Wonder Spectacle : Angel of the Blue Forest"
"Blue Angelic Presence"
Part Two
The "Straight" Photographs
"Strange" "Oddball" "Quirky"
Portraits, Animals, Insects
. . . all kinds of Things . . .
Still Lifes, fish, turtles, ghosts, angels,
. . . . mythological characters and a question mark ? . . . .
_______________________________________________________
leaving%20the%20tent%20%20%20copy.jpg)
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#73 Photograph (out of focus) 18x18"
"A Weary Elephant slowly leaving the tent"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#78 Faint Photograph 18x18"
"A Running Bull about to die in the Foggy Fading Departing Landscape"
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Homage Escher & Mannerism P#79 Faint Photograph 18x18"
"Departing Grasshopper"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#80 Faint Photograph 18x18"
"Two conjoined Geckos on a white wall in a dark restaurant in Cost Rico"
(The Flash on my camera went off when I took this picture)
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#97 Two-fold symmetrical photo 18x18"
"A Net-less Basketball Hoop with an Automobile Tire on top of it . . . and it double"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#96 Basketball Hoop with Cut Net 18x18"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#101 Inkjet print 18x18"
"White electric cord emerging from the surrounding darkness"
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Homage Escher & Mannerism P#86 Neg /Pos Photograph 18x18"
"A Swan, swimming in light, under a diamond suspended in darkness"
"Abstract Portrait with Eclipsed Circles & Crossed Lines"
"Negative / positive Circled / lined image of a human skull"
(To see more Line-Drawing Portraits visit my project
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#83 Inkjet print 21x21"
"Moon & Birds on telephone lines"
This is a chromatic field image that has been circled and tonally inversed.
%20(Stone%20snow,%20red%20plant,%20wood%20planks)%20%20IMG_8246%20%20copy.jpg)
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#7123 Straight Inkjet print Photograph 18x18"
"The Witnessing Eye"
(Stone with dark "eye", red plant & snow covered wood plank)
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#118 Inkjet Print - Photograph 15x15"
"Auto Tire on top of a Basketball hoop with a little bit of backboard"
photographed from below, up against a white sky
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#129 Inkjet Print - Photograph 15x15"
"Peach & shadow on a table and its line of separation"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#76 Portrait (out of focus) 18x18"
"Gloria with her hand over her squinting eyes"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#77 Portrait (out of focus) 18x18"
"Violent light striking (dissolving) Larry's face"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#75 Portrait (out of focus) 18x18"
"Portrait with stripes of light & shadow on a man's face,
and light reflected in his shadowed glasses"
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Homage Escher & Mannerism P#124 Inkjet Print Photograph 18x18"
"Portrait" (Elephant Head)
%20with%20horizon%20line%20and%20luminous%20waves%20%20D%205137-18%20%20%20copy.jpg)
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#74 Straight Photograph 18x18"
"Young black boy (with a dark horizon line crossing behind his shoulders)
looking down, standing in luminous breaking waves"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#128 Inkjet Print 18x18"
"Figure With Lines"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#72 Inkjet Print - Faint Photograph 15x15"
Figure walking in a snow storm
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#98 Faint Photograph 15x15"
"Limbless Tree in winter fog"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#101 15x15"
"Skeletal Garage" suspended in black space
Motel window view of a pool area
Visit my Quirky Photographs project
Quirky, oddball, cryptic, mysterious; images one can't identify or why the picture was made,
images approaching abstraction . . . If you look at my Quirky project you will note that
many images in this project (or variations on the image) are in my Quirky project.
"Still Life with Plastic Flowers" (with multiple tricky horizon lines)
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#140 Inkjet print Photograph 15x15"
Abstract Quirky Still Life
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#116 Inkjet Print - Photograph 18x18"
"Still life--Illuminated Yellow Flowers in a vase--reflected on a flat TV screen"
%20Reflection%20in%20computer%20screen%20%20IMG_3658%20copy.jpg)
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#136 Inkjet Print - Photograph 18x18"
A "Quirky" Still Life reflected on a computer screen
Many of my Quirky photographs are sometimes based in perceptual ambiguities--i.e.,
"Things are not always as they appear," or "What am I looking at?" This image was
"interesting" to me at first, but I doubted its integrity as an image. Humor
has its divine aspect, I believe, and given the yogic teachings that
say "this world is an illusion based in the dualistic nature of the
human mind . . ." to play with appearances photographically
has helped me change the way I see the apparent world.
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#130 Inkjet Print 18x18"
"Thunder storm over the S meadow & pond . . . as viewed
through interior reflections on our picture window"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#134 Inkjet Print 18x18"
Quirky Photo: Strange, obscure events sighted in the Vermont Woods
* * *
Six Photographs from my 1975-76 blog project
The Persephone Series
This project is based on real events in my family life that paralleled the Greek Myth of Persephone
who was abducted from Hades and held captive, separated from her mother Demeter.
%20grimacing%20O.F.%2018x18%20%20copy.jpg)
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#81 Inkjet Prints made from silver gelatin prints 18x18"
"The Greek mythological Child-God, Persephone, grimacing & tearing,
anguished by having been abducted by Hades and held captive in
separated from her mother, Demeter.
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#93 Persephone Series Photograph 18x18"
"Demeter (Persephone's mother) dreaming of her daughter in the underworld"
"Hades holding Persephone captive in the Underworld"
"Demeter, bathing in the dark waters of depression, longing to be
reunited with her daughter Persephone"
"Persephone, feeling sad and lonely, sitting on a dark stone bathing
her feet in the dark waters of an Underworld stream"
"Hades, God of the Underworld, creating more and more mythic 'Underworlds'"
* * *
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#95 Inkjet Print 18x18"
"Double Portrait … Gloria, Sleeping"
"Gloria and Jessica / Demeter and Persephone . . . and an eclipsed moon
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#117 Inkjet Print - Photograph 18x18"
"Circled Faint Photograph:
Boy--with hands in his pockets--talking to a beautiful girl sitting on a rail"
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Man and Woman walking together in the light
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"Blue Angel of the Picture Window"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#108 Inkjet Print 18x18"
"Spinning Blue Angel of the White Light"
"Blue fish with a red mouth in green water"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#115 Inkjet Print - Photograph 18x18"
"Stone in puddle with reflections in warm light
(with an odd irrational decorative addition)
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#113 Inkjet Print - Photograph 18x18"
Approaching abstraction: Office Buildings viewed through venetian blinds
%20%20copy%20%20copy.jpg)
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#114 Inkjet Print - Photograph 18x18
Abstract Portrait: "A Constantly Talking Liar"
("If the mouth is moving it is telling lies")
%20%20IMG_0676%20%20copy.jpg)
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#132 Inkjet Print - Photograph 15x15"
"Portrait of a Turtle, in water with air bubbles"
"Masked Ghost wandering around Atlanta, Georgia"
from my project Atlanta City Series
%20%20dog%20(in%20a%20zoo's%20sea%20lion%20exhibit)%20wondering%20what%20it's%20seeing%20%20.jpg)
"The Unanswered Question"
(Dog? Looking at an upside-down, suspended Y? or Question Mark?)
%20into%20the%20light%20%20(%20D%20119%20DL)%20%20copy.jpg)
"Waving Goodbye"
Epilogue
______________________________________
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#143 Symmetrical Abstract Photograph 16x20"
"The Spark"
The title of this image "The Spark" invokes one of my favorite Jazz musicians, Steve Lacy. Lacy wrote some wonderful compositions, but much of his work was spontaneous improvisations. I loved his solo soprano saxophone albums in which he invented music based on a theme (like The Spark) and then just go wild with his improvisations on the theme. Lacy produced many concerts and albums in Homage to his mentor Thelonious Monk. He would often visit Monk in his New York apartment and just sit and listen to Monk play his music, just to absorb what ever Monk would give him on that given day.
This was Monk's way. He still occupies a large space in my Heart for his profoundly playful, beautiful, inventive, improbable music, nearly always improvisations on his own melogies of traditional old-time pop tunes.
Lacy and Monk were a true inspiration to me and I still go back to their music when I need a little spark or two along my way. I feel like I know these two wonderful people in some deep profoundly personal way, and I just wanted to once again express my gratitude to them both for the the many gifts they have showered upon me. They are an intimate part of this project.
I feel pretty much the same way about all the artists and all of the themes I have dedicated my large collection of Homage projects too. Visit My Complete list of Homage Projects
And I feel the same way about the two films I saw recently:
Robin Lutz's M.C. Escher ~ Journey to Infinity and
And I am grateful beyond words for all that I have received from the Siddha Yoga lineage: Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, Swami Muktananda and Bhagavan Nityananda
*
This Inkjet Print Project was published
and announced on my blog's Welcome Page
February ?, 2026
Related Project Links
My Complete list of Homage Projects which included my projects on Monk & Steve Lacy
Symmetrical Photographs ~ Images, Projects, Texts click here
Photography and Yoga 2016
The True living Symbol click here
The Symbolic Photograph click here
Contemplating Symbolic Photographs click here
Welcome Page to The Departing Landscape blog-website which includes the complete hyperlinked listing of my online photography projects dating back to the 1960's, my resume, contact information, and more.
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