The Coolest Art Show In Houston Is Here: M.C. Escher’s Virtual Realities

The best things to do in Houston include an amazing art show, showcasing the great MC Escher in an exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.

“Only those who attempt the absurd…will achieve the impossible. I think …I think it’s in my basement…Let me go upstairs and check.”

― M.C. Escher

The MFAH is home to the biggest and most complete display of M.C. Escher’s artwork ever. More than 400 prints, sketches, watercolors, printed textiles, built items, wood and linoleum blocks, lithographic stones, sketchbooks, and the artist’s equipment are displayed in the exhibition Virtual Realities.

Born in the Netherlands, Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972), often known as M.C. Escher, is well-known around the world for his self-described “mental pictures” that relate to mathematics and many fields of science. He stayed outside of the art establishment and was referred to as a “one-man art movement.” Escher’s mind-bending creations are prized now and were celebrated throughout the psychedelic age of the 1960s and 1970s.

Virtual Realities, which spans Escher’s whole career, is taken from the largest Escher collection in the world, which is in the hands of Michael S. Sachs, who in 1980 bought out 90% of the Escher estate. With its orchestration of multidimensional parallel realms, the artist’s unique, occasionally terrifying works have become as icons of the 20th century. Escher’s vision progressed from his actual observations of the environment to his imaginative creations that investigate the connections between logic and irrationality, order and chaos, and art and science. The show is accompanied with interactive auxiliary rooms where visitors may experiment with optical illusions.

► Audio Guide

The curator, printmakers, physicists, mathematicians, and others provide commentary for the exhibition audio guide’s exploration of chosen works of art. Online and in the galleries; free of charge. Available in Spanish. Please bring your mobile device and headphones if you like to listen in the galleries.
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If you are looking for an awesome art exhibit, check out Virtual Realities!