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
There have been many other Homage projects that have unfolded for me over a long period of time because of a deep sense of respect, gratitude and appreciation to the artists and subjects I have come to love. This project, on the contrary, was completely unexpected and and it took me totally by surprise thanks to a synchronistic falling-together-in-time coincidence 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, entitled M.C. Escher ~ Journey to Infinity and Waldemar Januszczak's three-part vide0 entitled Art's Wildest Movement: MANNERISM.
I had decided to watch Journey to Infinity again (I purchased from Amazon.com in October 2023 after my first viewing of it) because of two pictures I included in my last completed blog project, Humor: a straight photograph of a concrete stairs (that I presented upside down), and a symmetrical version of that image, both of which reminded me of the many popular images Escher had made of impossible and infinitely unfolding & circling stair steps. (See the two images here, below: Images #1A & #1B)
Immediately after I finished watching Journey to Infinity I saw a notice from Amazon.com informing me they had just added Januszcsak's new 3-part video on Mannerism to their website. I am definitely a fan of Januszcsak's videos; I have seen all his videos offered on Amazon's website. I really enjoy and appreciate his rather funny but insightful approach to his productions that explore many aspects of Art History. So I immediately watched the three Mannerism videos. Over the next few days, as I began to consider what the the two video experiences meant to me, they seemed to merge together in my mind in a way that suggested there might just be a new photography project seeking my attention.
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In 1972 my MFA written thesis requirement at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, focused mostly on the photographers Alfred Stieglitz & Edward Weston, plus Carl Jung, the "Father" of modern depth psychology. I had become interested in his work on the structure of the psyche (conscious & unconscious, ego & shadow, etc.) and most importantly his ideas about the Creative Unconscious, and the possibility of a Unified psyche which he termed the Self. I also got very involved with his ideas about the True archetypal nature of Symbols and how that related to medieval alchemy and its creative process which involved the transmutation of lead into gold (the Philosopher's Stone). Then, as I began to work through my rather long paper, the very heart of my thesis turned out to be Jung's theories on Synchronicity.
So, synchronicity has once again spontaneously initiated yet another photography project for me with the most unexpected results, in part because there are several Jungian ideas that can be related to Escher's work, and because I slowly began to awaken to many similarities between my life experiences and art making interests, and Escher's.
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In the last ten days of January 2026, as I began my struggle 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, about how the most vulnerable and innocent people are being attacked, and then badly damaged physically and emotionally when placed in detention centers, operating under the most horrible conditions, including separating family members from each other and even their children . . . all of which was being initiated by our own Federal Government . . . this horrible news certainly began to creep 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 began to understand how what has happened in 2025 is what helped me to better understand and appreciate the life and work of 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, painters and poets. I have paid Homage to the sculptor/painter Giacometti and to a meadow, a woods, a garden and the Milwaukee County Parks; I have paid homage to Angels, Ghosts, a Lake, a River, water falls, a brook, and snow; I have devoted projects in Homage to my family life, and my practice of Siddha Yoga. (See my complete list of Homage blog projects.)
But, this project is different from the others. There is in this present collection of images a "weird" and "fiery" quality which was inspired in part, I believe, by Januszczak's enthusiastic, funny and yet quite serious video on Mannerism. Januszczak tells us, even as a 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 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 aspects of myself in what I learned about Escher in the film. Escher clearly took refuge in his art work, and his love of printmaking did demand of him a lot of highly focused attention and time.
Lutz's film brings Esher's work quite literally to life with the use of animation--something Esher himself wrote about and expressed much interest in. Escher 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, in Granada, Spain, images which in most cases were intended to celebrate the sacred Islamic idea of the Infinite. His love of Islamic Art began to blossom for him when he first visited the Alhambra in 1922
. . . followed by a second visit in 1936 with Jetta.
I share Escher's fascination with Perceptual ambiguity, Image Repetition, Symmetry, and the concepts of Unity, Infinity and what he termed "Endlessness." Above all, Escher was interested in connecting and transforming things into unified visual fields; or, said in another way, "closing the circle." Indeed 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 Jungian ideas 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 spontaneous synchronistic moments of recognition . . . of something deeply, personally meaningful to me. (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, often because of the horrors associated with politics and Wars . . . from which he was forced to escape.
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 Finland in 2017 (when Jetta was 19 years old) because of the Russian Revolution. When Jetta was around 23 years old, and still living in Finland, she experienced near starvation and the slaughter of 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 in Italy, and though she was very pretty, she often appears in snapshots made of Jetta in Italy noticeably sad or depressed and emaciated.
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 was probably due to Escher's introverted nature and his need to take refuge in his art work. Jetta moved to Switzerland to live with their youngest son. She died there 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; 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 (are they atoms? planets? worlds?) and different sized geometrical shapes in Stars.
Regarding Escher's many works dealing with the metamorphosis of one image into another, and his particular interest in stairs . . . the 1953 lithograph entitled "Relativity" (below) tests our ability to remain aware of what is spatially, 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 complex 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 also 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 had 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. The 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 strong desire 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 in 2012 did not just come out of the clear blue sky! In my first two years of college in the Photo Program at RIT (in Rochester, NY 1964-66) I fell in love with the photographs, ideas and stories I heard and read about in the work and lives of Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston. 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. Every week, after attending 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, and would in particular always visit Steiglitz's cloud photographs and Weston's photographs of Peppers and Shells.
Siddha Yoga & Symbolic Photographs
In 1969-72 I discovered Carl Jung's ideas which helped me better understand Stieglitz's and Weston's work. I devoted my MFA written thesis requirement at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque to Jung's ideas (about the psyche, alchemy, symbols & synchronicity) in relation to the Creative Process in photographic picture-making.
In 1987 Gloria and I were invited (by one of Gloria's sisters) to take a two-day meditation program with Gurumayi Chivilasananda at her ashram in NY State. 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 the Heart of every human being. I was overwhelmed by my experience of a divine presence, and the feeling of waves upon waves of love that pervaded my entire being. I later realized I had been given a glimpse of the yogic teaching often referred to as 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 which was based in the ideas I had written about in my 1972 MFA written thesis, became all the more urgent for me after I had several experiences of Gurumayi's grace. Eventually I came to understand that True, living 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 my intellect or ego; in other words, 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 a year later, in 2012, my deep appreciation for the Alhambra. When I learned of Escher's love of the Alhambra in the film Journey to Infinity, and his personal history, I felt it would be important for me to take a much closer and intimate look at Escher's 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 infinite ways 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 harmony gave them the necessary permission to get totally "wild" and "Crazy" with their "new," "strange," artistic inventions. (the words in italics are Januszczak's)
Januszczak's three videos take us on a wonderful visual journey to the places where Mannerism played itself out; he shows us the actual works he felt his audience must know about, and where they were being presented at the time he was making his videos (for BBC). He provides us with wonderful commentary on the historical, social and political contexts in which the movement took place, and does it in an unusual and entertaining manner.
Regarding My "Quirky" Photographs
I recognized in many of the things Januszczak showed and talked about in his videos 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.)
His video on Mannerism also helped me become aware 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 which seemed to me 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 dissonance which clearly we are now going through: 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 also recognized that my Quirky images do have a vital life of their own, a sense of freshness in their own unique ways that Januszczak talks frequently about, and which have emerged 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!) which also included 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: both works which I had already made, and many new works I have made in direct response to the two videos I have 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, a "mathematician" . . . even a scientist. He often did pursue commercial work as a graphic artist when money was needed to care for his family of two children and his wife 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 use his images and sup them 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.
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, it should be understood that I do not think all of my symmetrical images are not necessarily True, living Symbols.
If an image I have made does not radiate a subtle kind of interior light, or a 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 do not function for me as True living Symbols, and the drama is many of the images I have made do tend to blind me to their shallow titillations, but my ultimate goal as a visual artist--and as a student of yoga--is to make images which have a divine presence, 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 image patterns in my own work while making Chromatic Fields (and other forms of repeating images) for my multi-part project Triadic Memories (2002-07). I had become inspired by the contemporary music of American composer Morton Feldman, and Feldman's music was inspired by the Turkish rugs he loved and collected.
The Chromatic Fields are directly related to 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 visited the amazing Turkish and Islamic Art Museum in Istanbul, which had the most amazing displays of original ancient Turkish and Islamic carpets, and Qur'ans, I was very impressed by the carpets . . . But I was even more impressed by the illuminated Qur'ans I saw on display. One in particular set me off into a remarkable inner experience of light that I could see pervaded the image (which I have written about in my first chapter of my "Imaginary Book" entitled Prayer Stones.)
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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 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 Escher's prints, an imaginal journey that Esher wrote about in relation to one of his images, 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 circular symmetrical 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. And the archetypal imagery of snakes in this work 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. 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 along the way 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 meditation--are the means by which students of yoga can invoke and awaken the grace of Kundalini. My yogic practices and my photographic practice definitely helps me stay in touch with the grace that pervades 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 Psyche was very similar to the yogic idea of the Self, and referred to the goal of that psychological process with the term 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 an awakening o f the spiritual-creative Kundalini energy (the snake) emerging from the infinitely small point at the very center of the image and then expanding outward and upward . . . and finally the snake's merging (intertwining) with Itself. ~ Many of Escher's metamorphosing works . . which are often mesmerizing and magical images . . . are beautiful 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 terms "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. And, 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 this 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--and I love the idea of Re-vision. I have often made multiple transformed versions or variations on 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 of every human being that manifests an inner image into its outer form of a photographic image and is radiant with an 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 for my personally. It takes time to tune into the subtle realm of meaning of True Symbols which unveil a kind of non-dualistic meaning that can only be stated in terms that transcend human intellect and language.
The best, quickest and most intimate way for me to get in touch with the interior meaning of an image is to immerse myself in an image that seems to be functioning as an True Symbol. It involves a yogic practice called contemplation which I have adapted to my photographic images. I imaginatively enter into the image and engage with the image in something like a silent dialogue. 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 a personal note: 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, and large pictures of small insects; tonally inversed images; and 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 Introduction to my project with the words Januszczak used at the conclusion 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
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 their numerical progression, as it is often broken due to editorial decisions I have made in the process of changing or adding images within the vertical sequence of the two collections of images. ~ Photographs 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 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 in the symmetrical image. These two images have
sparked all the new photographs you will seeing in this project.
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, 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 unusual transformative delight.)
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#7 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Road Curb, and Light reflected in Rain Puddles"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#19 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15
"A Pair of Double Angel Wings"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#6 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"A Blur of Circling 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 its source 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 a favorite Escher woodcut prints I had
seen in one of four books I owned. I
have not been about to find that published image!
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#3B Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Concrete Bridge (structural details, Horizontal version)"
The vertical version of this image was presented above (#3A)
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"
"Fenced-off Industrial Park 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 & down and upside-down on 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." (the original source image was a silver gelatin 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
on it when the man unexpectedly 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;
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 together in flight"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#21 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Chatham Lane houses in the fog--
as viewed from inside the meadow"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#20 Two Fold Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"The Screaming Ghost Image of the Hudson River"
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"Morning Meadow Tree & 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 a bit frightening. I detect a bit of witchcraft in it.
I included the image in my Angelic Presence project which included images
I had had made in Salem, MA.
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#25 Two Fold Symmetrical Photograph 16x20"
"Man-ghost standing in a box contemplating his lived life
looking at duality 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 at just the perfect angle to illuminate
these ancient 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 light 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 & Cats"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#68 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"An Unnamed Mythic Creature of the woods--with two heads and many eyes"
The source image is from my project In the Woods
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#69 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Sunlight and shadows on sand in a circular symmetrical disk-like form"
"A Butterfly's Expanding Pulsating Light on a Garden's Stone Path"
"Ritual Circle in 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 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, in Granada, Spain)
There are four repeated waterfall images in this four-fold symmetrical photograph.
As I remember it, the falls was about12-18" high.
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#88 Symmetrical Photograph 21x21"
"Fish Feeding Time, pond at the Alcazar of Seville" ("green eyes" symm. version)
(Visit my project Crystalline Paradise: Moorish Spain)
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#89 Symmetrical Photograph 21x21"
"Khidr: Earth Angel, Green Man"
My interest in Angels is based in the writings of Henry Corbin and Tom Cheetham.
See excerpts of their writing in my blog link here from my blog project The Angels
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"
"Dark Mysterious Meadow Landscape with Purple Sky, X"
"Shepherds resting in a blue shadow on a rocky hill in Turkey 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 shadows of different tones"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#55 Symmetrical Abstract Photograph 18x18"
"Shadow Tourists Wandering Among Vatican Columns"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#70 Symmetrical Photograph 18x18"
"Pompeii Figures Under Glass with reflections of light above"
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 have witnessed
in Minnesota by Federal agents---by orders from of our present
Administration is . . . deeply 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 two large lampshade shadows"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#49 Symmetrical Photograph 15x15"
"Double conjoined Chandeliers with dimmed lights"
"A Ceramic Bowl, opening, revealing its interior light"
"The South Meadow - Suspended in the light of an Orange Sunset with some blue clouded sky"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#143 Symmetrical Photograph 16x20"
"The Spark" (between four triangles)
%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
"Faint 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 meadow pond"
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#61 Symmetrical Photograph 16x20"
"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 & White Negative/Positive Headless figures
walking into the light / into the dark raining sky"
"A Bus Driver Encounters His Double in a Costa Rica Tourist Stop"
After I took this picture I heard a God-awful scream coming from one
After I took this picture I heard 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 pointed toward a large
snake that had coiled up inside her room next to the door.
"Dissolution by 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 endless, Infinite, 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"
"Wonderful 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 Inkjet print (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"
%20%20copy.jpg)
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 unexpectedly went off when I took this picture
and everything turned white . . . . except four eyes.)
Homage Escher & Mannerism N#97 Two-fold symmetrical photo 18x18"
"A Net-less Basketball Hoop with an Automobile Tire on top of it . . . and its Double"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#96 Inkjet print 18x18"
"Basketball Hoop with Cut Net suspended in the starry sky"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#101 Inkjet print 18x18"
"White snake-like electric cord emerging from the surrounding darkness"
%20%20%20copy.jpg)
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#86 Neg /Pos Photograph 18x18"
"A White 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"
%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"
(A stone with a dark "eye"/ with a red plant laying over it / on a 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 the backboard"
(photographed from below, up against a white sky)
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#129 Inkjet Print - Photograph 15x15"
"Peach & shadow on a sunlit 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)
standing in luminous breaking waves . . . looking down"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#128 Inkjet Print 18x18"
"Figure Standing Behind 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 a winter fog"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#101 15x15"
"Skeletal Garage suspended in black space"
"Quirky* photo of a Motel window view of the pool area"
Visit my Quirky Photographs project
*Quirky: oddball, cryptic, mysterious; images one can't identify or cant understand why or
how the photograph was taken or made; images that may be approaching abstraction.
. . . though perhaps in some transformed version.
"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)"
Sometimes my Quirky photographs are 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 South meadow & pond . . . as viewed
through interior reflections on our picture window"
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#134 Inkjet Print 18x18"
Quirky Photo: A strange, obscure event(s) 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 by 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 the
Underworld 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, 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 . . . with an Eclipsed Moon"
This picture is--for me--about Gloria and Jessica getting back together after Jessica's
stay in Milwaukee's Children's Hospital for several days where she nearly died
from a very serious bacterial infection that mutated into a viral infection.
Jessica was under a year old at the time. I explain the whole story here.
Related to all this, I suspect, is something that happened one day when Gloria was walking
with Jessica on their way to Jessica's play group. Jessica, who was two or three years old
at the time stopped and turned to Gloria and told her: "You weren't always my mom."
Gloria asked: "Who was I?" Jessica answered: "You were my sister, and you died."
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#117 Inkjet Print - Photograph 18x18"
"Circled Faint Photograph:
A boy--with hands in his pockets--talking to a beautiful girl sitting on a rail"
%20%20copy%203.tif)
"Man and Woman walking together in the light"
%20%20copy.jpg)
"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 a puddle with reflections in warm light
(with odd decorative additions)
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#113 Inkjet Print - Photograph 18x18"
Approaching abstraction: "Office Buildings viewed through the venetian blinds
of another Office Building across the way."
%20%20copy%20%20copy.jpg)
Homage Escher & Mannerism P#114 Inkjet Print - Photograph 18x18
Abstract Portrait: ". . . of 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 downtown 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 a 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. He wrote some wonderful compositions, but much of his work was spontaneous improvisation. I loved his solo soprano saxophone albums in which he invented music based on themes (like The Spark) He would just go wild with his solo 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 want to give him on that given day.
This was Monk's way. Monk still occupies a large space in my Heart for his profoundly playful, beautiful, inventive, improbable music, nearly always improvisations on his own melodies or 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. Please 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 Meditation Masters of the Siddha Yoga lineage . . . a path that insists on Self effort and grace, the "two wings of a bird" that makes it possible to fly.
*
This Inkjet Print Project was published
and announced on my blog's Welcome Page
8:07 PM February 15, 2026
~ Shivaratri ~
Thank You! Gurumayi
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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