After Escher
to
Yukon Artists @ Work Cooperative 4129 4 Avenue, Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 1H7

“After Escher,” 2024
(courtesy of the Gallery)
Opening Reception: Friday, February 2nd from 5-8 p.m
Mauritis Cornelis Escher was a remarkable, if unusual, artist. With his tessellations and mind-bending perspectives in his drawings, he was far more popular with mathematicians and scientists than with the mainstream art world. The artists at Yukon Artists at Work (YAAW) are staging an exhibit of their work that pays tribute to this Dutch artist.
Linda Leon is curating the exhibit. She was inspired to propose this idea to the membership after seeing an exhibition of Escher’s work in 2018 in Australia. “We’ve put on our math brains and have come up with some really interesting pieces that we think members of the public will enjoy,” Leon said. “A lot of us have found this work challenging and I think we all now have an even greater appreciation of just how brilliant Escher was.”
Leon is also taken by how principled Escher was. “He refused to sign with the Nazi cultural registry in Holland, which meant he was not able to sell his work during the World War II occupation,” she said. “As a result, he and his family experienced starvation.”
On another occasion, Leon says Escher rushed to the studio of his Jewish friend Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita, who had just been sent to Auschwitz. Finding his friend’s work trampled by the soldiers, he rescued as much as he could, saving it for posterity.
It’s not just visual artists who will have work in the YAAW show. Leon has invited local writer Arlin McFarlane to participate with her poem “Thought Pockets Some Small Change“. Here is an excerpt:
Escher-like
I walk up and down my life
Swim swans into fish
Thoughts into imaginings
till I stand outside
down
up
looking on
seeking
a treasure of surprise
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