WEBVTT - MC Escher and His Trippy Art 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:03.560 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of Five 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:12.360 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:15.120 I'm Josh Clark, and there's Charles w Chuck Bryant, there's 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:17.480 Jerry over there, and this is Stuff You Should Know. 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:23.040 The Arts C edition is Jerry broom Tone. Roland. Yeah, 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:27.320 I think that's make believe stuff. Room tone. Yeah. She 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:28.920 might as well be like, let me capture a few 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:31.960 fairies in this, Mason Jark. First, I think it's the 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:36.280 same thing we made does in the final edit. I 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:38.400 don't know what it is about to explain to everyone. 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:40.839 Room tone is you do this on film sets and 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:44.560 in studios where you just make everyone sit completely silently 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:48.120 while you capture the sound of the room. So I 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:50.000 guess you can. What do you do with that? Jerry 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:53.080 layer it in in case you needed or something. Did 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:55.320 you hear that? Everyone? She said, she cleans up the 0:00:55.360 --> 0:01:01.680 background to everybody listening, it sounded like there's something about it, though. 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:04.080 It's like being in church and getting the giggles, like 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:06.200 it's really hard, especially on the film, so when there's 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:10.440 like fifty people standing around being completely silent and farting, 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:13.120 I suspect it's strictly a power trip. You think the 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:15.720 person calling for a room tone, that's what I think. 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:17.679 I'm gonna start doing that my house when things get 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:21.600 out of hand. Room tone. Don't make me bust out 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:26.280 the room tone on you. Well, since we're no, I 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:28.920 was gonna stay. Since we're talking about room tone, obviously, 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.360 the topic today is mc escher, who was well known 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:35.760 for going berserk anytime someone asked him to be quiet 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:40.959 for room tone. You had trash chairs, grab reptiles straight 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:43.200 out of the two dimensions and throw them into the 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:46.240 third dimension to steal all sorts of weird stuff. That's funny. 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:49.720 Did you think so that was a joke just for you? Yeah, 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:52.320 so he everyone knows mc esure. If you've ever been 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:56.720 to college or taking drugs or sold drugs to somebody 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:03.080 in college, then you've probably seen hands drawing hands or uh, 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:04.760 I mean, that's not what the name of that one was, 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:08.960 but it's called drawing hands, is it? Or the Some 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:12.000 of his more famous ones are the these impossible rooms, 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:17.000 like stairs that lead to sideway stairs but you've gotta 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:18.560 wrap your head around it in a certain way to 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:21.080 even make sense of it, all right, or stairs that 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:24.280 lead into other stairs that lead back into the other stairs. 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:26.520 It is constant or I'm a big fan of that 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:29.919 one self portrait he did in the the Sphere. Yeah there, 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:33.280 the mirror Sphere. Mirror Sphere. Yeah, it's cool, it is 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:35.960 very cool. I'm not crazy about the face, even though 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:39.400 I'm sure he did it exactly precise, but the hand, 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:42.480 if you look at the hand, it's really realistic. It's 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:44.840 very pretty. Yeah, I mean, I'd like this stuff. This 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:47.200 is not my style, as in anything I would put 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:50.960 on my walls these days, but I still think he's 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:55.280 one of the like coolest, more innovative artists out there. 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:59.079 And there's a great factoid that I hope will hold 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:01.280 till the end, which are not the end, but kind 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:04.440 of where it falls in our So what is what 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:06.880 is factory mean against? I mean, you've killed ten percent 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:09.240 of all the facts and this is just one of 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:15.120 the percent remaining. That's right, Okay, gotcha. So um. One 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:16.720 of the things you chalk about m c es sure 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:19.639 that I found was that if you were impressed by 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:23.120 his work, prepared to get exponentially more impressive. We talked 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:26.200 about how he made those works too. That's the fact 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:29.320 of the show. For me. Okay, that's the fact. Got 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.320 hold onto that. Sure, Sure, I was just teasing it 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:34.280 a little bit. I didn't know that's what you're talking about, 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:37.760 although I should have guessed. So this is us talking 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.280 about an artist, which means that we should probably talk 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.880 about the artist being born. Um. And in the case 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:47.680 of mc Escher, whose name, by the way, was more 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:53.000 it's uh Cornelis. I want to say Cornelius, but there's 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:58.960 no you in there. Sure I nailed the last name, 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:05.200 but I'm spoke on name. Oh you didn't say nailed 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:08.680 the last name. This is the point where the people say, 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:11.560 get to the point already, Well we are at that point. 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:18.680 That's m C. And then Escher born June not nineteen nine. 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:25.480 As as the Grabster put it was like mans he 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:30.039 was born in leeu Warden, Netherlands, grew up in arn Him, 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:35.600 which is about sixty miles southeast of A. Yeah, I 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:38.279 mapped all this stuff out kind of that general area. 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:42.320 You went on a little Google tour. Uh. And he 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.880 signed even from early on as m CE. He signed 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:50.080 his paintings, although people called him mock m a UK 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:54.560 friends and family right, which didn't mean anything, ed points out, 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:58.800 but it's just like, you know, an affectionate term for Morrit's. Yeah, 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:03.640 is it Maurits probably Marites, Marit's cornellis Escher. But he 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:06.240 could also go the way of Morris. So is it 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:11.280 Morrit's more? I don't know. I wish, I wish I knew. Well, 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:14.000 what we do know is that, uh, in this we 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:16.159 should put a pin in because it's sort of plays 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:18.480 a big part in how he pursued his art. But 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:22.279 his dad had some money. He was a rich kid. Yeah, 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:25.320 for sure, which really helps, as we'll see as he's 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:30.560 trapesing around Europe on dad's time, slowly getting better at 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:35.159 art slowly. Yeah, that's a good point because he was 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.200 not great in school. He did love drawing class, but 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.920 apparently wasn't you know, he didn't have his second grade 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:46.000 teachers falling over themselves about what a talented artist he was. No, 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:49.480 and apparently he also didn't consider himself much of an artist, 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:52.920 although he engaged in art like he he did produce 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:56.240 art from a very young age. He was terrible in 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.880 school except that math and a drawing. Apparently, when he 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.640 was in grade school primary school he failed his finals, 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:05.560 all of them except for math and I read that 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:09.920 his father noted in his journal with some affection that 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:14.359 his son consoled himself by producing a Lena type of 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.559 a sunflower. That's how he made himself feel better after 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:21.400 after failing out of school. Well, and he he was 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:25.000 somewhat adept at math early on, but um, it's interesting 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:29.240 his his work is highly mathematical as far as art goes. 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:32.080 But later on in life, when he was confronted with 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:35.920 real mathematicians, he would sort of be like, no, not 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:38.599 me a man, Like I'm an artist. Well, I'm not 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:41.160 that kind of mathematician, so I said yes, But he 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:44.760 was most of his friends or mathematicians. For most of 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:48.880 his career, he was mostly appreciated by mathematicians and scientists. 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:51.000 Those are the people who really vibed on his work. 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:56.960 And that came later. Okay, that Camel remaining out real popular. Um, 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:00.240 but I saw that somebody made a movie called any 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.320 Into Infinity. It's a documentary, a full length documentary, I 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:07.640 believe the whole things on YouTube. Um, and it starts out. 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:10.720 The trailer starts out with Graham Nash saying, Hey, I 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:15.320 called up mc escher one day just to say, Mr Esher, 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:17.240 I think you're a really great artist, That's all I 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:20.120 wanted you to say. And he said, I don't consider 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:24.320 myself an artist. I consider myself a mathematician. Oh really, yes, 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:31.800 So I'm going with Graham Nash's interpretation. Spoke to him directly. Yeah, yeah, 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:34.360 I mean it's crazy. He I mean, not to spoil anything, 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:40.080 but he died, uh in just seventy three, So you know, 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:42.040 if he would have lived to his like mid eighties, 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:46.080 which is somewhat reasonable, Um, he he would have been 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:48.240 like alive in the eighties, which just seems so weird. 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:50.800 It does seem kind of weird, you know. Yeah, because 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:54.080 he was he seems counter cultural for sure, even though 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:59.360 his his personality was not very counter cultural. Um, and 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:02.240 he didn't really have much love for hippies. In fact, 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:04.920 he later said that the hippies in San Francisco are 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:12.120 legally making copies of my work. Um. He didn't exactly follow, 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:16.440 you know, the normal usual beat throughout his lifetime. And 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:18.520 he was he was. He was a mathematician. He was 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:20.120 a bit of a square, but he was also a 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:25.000 very imaginative square. That's right. I was trying to make 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:28.040 a square joke, but it's not coming to me. Remember 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:31.760 that show Square Peg Square Peg Square Square pegs Sarah 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:34.439 Jessica Parker was she and that she was also and 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:38.840 girls just want to have fun, that's right. Yeah, And 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:42.160 I'm going to see her on Broadway next spring really yeah. 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.520 She and her husband are co starring in uh Plaza 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.520 Sweet and Neil Simon's Plaza Sweet. Very nice, very excited 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:51.360 about that. But I'm trying to align it with a 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:53.760 Bonnie Prince billy show, but that they're like a week apart, 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:56.120 and I'm like, I can't just stay in there a 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.160 lot of time to kill, especially when there's hourly flights 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:01.440 between Atlanta New York. I know, I may just go 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:04.360 see Bonnie princeci Billion come home because he didn't play much. 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:09.240 But that's a story for another day, all right. So 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:13.480 he goes to school at Technical College of delf Um, 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:16.720 not for very long, and then he went to the 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:20.480 Harlem with two A's School of Architecture and Decorative Arts, 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:24.000 which is west of Amsterdam, not Harlem, New York. Well, 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:26.600 I think that's what the Harlem, New York is named after, right, Yeah, 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:31.440 that's where Bonnie Prince. He's at town Hall. Actually, how 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:33.520 is that right? Yeah? We played there, it's right, I 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:37.560 gotta stank on that joint. So his dad said, you know, 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:39.640 because you know, his dad had a lot of money 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:41.960 and made money. And even though you want to support 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:43.880 your kids, you want the you want to try and 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:46.280 edge them into something. If you're that kind of dude, 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:49.000 that that might be lucrative. So he said, hey, you 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.440 like to draw shapes, why don't you go study architecture. 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:55.920 And he did that for a little while, even though 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:58.840 he wasn't super into it. But while at school there 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:02.800 he had a very fortunate meeting by being mentored by 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:07.679 one Samuel just Serin Demisquita, who would be his mentor, 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:10.480 who noticed some of his early art. I'm not sure 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:12.960 how he saw it, but he took one look at 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:16.240 Esher's art and said, you don't need to go into architecture. 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:19.920 Come study under me and learn graphic design. And so 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:23.440 Escher did. He became a graphic designer, which he whether 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:25.080 he knew it or not, he had been his whole 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:28.080 life up to that point. All of his work is 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:33.000 very graphic in nature and design. Yeah, it really really is. 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:35.120 But I'm sure his dad in the early, you know, 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:38.280 nineteen twenties was probably like is that even a thing, right? 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:41.040 That sounds made up? But well, his dad also, I 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:42.920 don't know if you said or not, was a civil engineer, 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.160 so of course he would be like, you draw, just 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:48.520 go to architecture. That's what I know, civil engineering, and 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:50.800 there's architects in the world. Just go do the other 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.280 thing that I don't do. And he probably thought graphic 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:56.680 design just meant like you're gonna make signs, right or 0:10:56.760 --> 0:10:59.920 post his stamps or Christmas paper, which he did later on. 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:01.640 That's right, So he made a little bit of dough. 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:06.400 So in the early nineteen twenties he started on his 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:10.520 uh sort of a rich kid journey, traveling around Europe 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:13.320 on his dad's time on a gap year that was 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:17.360 really really long, very long. But on one of these 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:19.840 trips he went to a couple of places that would 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.920 end up having a big influence on him. One in 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:26.880 Spain at the Alhambra, uh, and then just traveling through 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:29.720 southern Italy through the countryside. Yeah, he just fell in 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:32.559 love with Italy. Yeah, but in Spain this is this 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:35.360 is one that didn't bear fruit right away. But he 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:41.120 was really fascinated by these mosaics and tesselations which are 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:47.800 described as okay, they are repeating designs that interlock with 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:50.440 one another, leave no space between one another, and that 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:53.240 when you fit them together they fully cover a plane, 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:58.200 which is harder to do than you would think. Yeah, Like, 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.960 if you've ever seen the ess er fish um sort 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.079 of tessellation, the white fish and the black fish kind 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:08.120 of working in one another, Yeah, that's a perfect example. 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:10.520 And he would do this a lot later on. If 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:15.800 you've ever played Cuberta, that's those cubes or tessellations a 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:19.680 certain kind. But he got really into this, even though 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:22.560 it wasn't like right away that he started doing these things. 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:24.640 That sort of came a little bit later. But what 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:28.240 he did do was started drawing the Italian countryside because 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:30.800 he loved it. Loved it. I mean like he he 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:33.040 went to Italy, it was like this is my home, 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:35.960 and he was Quota at one point in time is 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:39.120 saying like he never wanted to become an Italian among Italians. 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:42.880 He liked being a stranger um, but he loved Italy, 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:45.319 which is an interesting thing to say. I'm not exactly 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:47.000 sure what it means. I think what he was saying 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:52.319 was he's he he likes being a visitor to Italy 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:57.160 rather than there's a certain amount of responsibility that comes 0:12:57.160 --> 0:12:59.000 with being one of us, you know what I mean. 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:01.360 Whereas if you can be like that guy over there, 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:03.760 who will accept him, We're not going to throw rocks 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:05.360 him every time we see him or anything like that, 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:07.280 and we'll take his money and you know, maybe even 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:09.440 say hi to him or whatever. We'll leave him alone. 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:12.920 We won't include him in our expectations of what it 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.439 means to be a local. Got you, That's what I 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:19.319 think he was after Clearly I can identify with that. Well, 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:21.240 that kind of came through in his work too, because 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:24.960 if you'll notice, even in these um before he started 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:29.240 doing the like trippy three dimensional hands drawing hands and stuff, 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:31.719 when he was doing countrysides, he didn't do a lot 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:34.360 of people, didn't do a lot of faces. People were 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.920 very much in the background and nondescript. But even when 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:40.320 you look at these, when you say Italian still lives 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:45.199 of countrysides, what came to mind for me were these beautiful, lush, 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:50.000 colorful recreations of a countryside. Nope, when you look at these, 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:52.160 they still look very much like in the m. C. E. 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:54.800 S Ra style that we all know. Yeah, like very clearly. 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:57.320 A lot of them too. They're cool. Yeah, they're beautiful. 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.440 They're black and white and then shades of ray, which 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:03.640 is all just shading, right, Um, But they are beautiful 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:05.800 in their way and lovely even. I like this stuff 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:08.559 more than the trippy stuff. Oh yeah, yeah, I mean 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:10.640 this is something I would put on my wall. You're 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:13.080 an art snob, You're like, oh, I only like ER's 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:19.240 early Italian landscapes. Oh man, take that trip stuff for 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:22.040 Graham Nash. I'm so ashamed. No, I think it's great, 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:28.960 Chuck you you have, but they are gorgeous. Um. And 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:33.320 then he met his wife. His name was Jetta. Jetta, 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:36.960 that's right, very nice, thank you. She was swift, learned 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:39.680 from the best. They met her in Italy, but she 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.920 was Swiss, and she went home and they sent a 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:45.200 bunch of love letters. It's a very sweet story. I'm 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:49.480 sure mccer movie would be pretty cool. Somebody wrote a 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:53.440 script or they wrote a dissertation about the process of 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:57.000 writing a script about m c escher. It's from University 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:59.320 of Texas, I wrote in two thousand and seventeen. I 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:02.360 can't remember the name of it, but just look up. Oh, 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.200 just some random stuff comes up if you look up 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:09.800 mosquito bootprint, which will come up later, but if you 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.520 search that on Google, it brings up. Have you ever 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:14.560 done that? Have you ever been like, I'm bored? I 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:17.520 want to see what weird stuff I can unlock from Google? 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:21.120 And it takes a certain amount of skill because Google 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:23.400 wants to give you exactly what you're looking for. It 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.520 doesn't want to give you just randomness, so you have 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:29.440 to trick it. So maybe you'll you'll type in a 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:32.320 weird word or the first three letters of a word 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:35.080 or something like that, and it's weird stuff will start 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:38.280 to come. Well, if you type in mosquito bootprint, probably 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:40.360 only like the first three of them pertain to m 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:43.080 C s or and the rest are just a random 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:47.360 assortment of of links. I remember, early in the days 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.520 of Google, Uh, we had a mutual friend who they 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:53.480 did this what I thought was a very dumb game 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:56.760 where they would try and find two words together that 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:00.000 they would try and produce the fewest amount of Google results. 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:02.640 And whoever could put two words together that found the 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:05.200 fewest one. Yeah, And I don't know if you remember 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:07.240 them doing that, but I don't know. I don't remember 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:08.960 you talking about lots of waste of time. But I 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:12.800 remember that some guy did, like a Ted talk about that. Really. Yeah, 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.200 well maybe I'm the dummy. No, no, no it was. 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:18.720 I mean look at me. I like mcsher's early work. 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:24.840 I think that's awesome. I mean, what taste. So he 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:28.600 meets and gets married. Uh, she returns to Italy and 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:33.440 they married. Do you mean Jed That's right. She would 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:38.280 become Jedda Esher and they had a son named Georgio 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:43.800 later had sons Arthur and Yan, and Uh, they were 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:46.080 still just sort of traveling and his dad was even 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:48.400 though he was married, his dad was still footing the bill. 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:53.360 Esher's dad mc escher's father. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, which 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.280 I was thinking about it. I was like, gosh, you know, 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:58.600 not get a benefactor. Wake up every day and look 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.080 at yourself in the mirror. But if you're if youre 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:04.080 in the mirror sphere, right, how do you and then 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:08.960 how do you draw it? So amazingly? Um? The father 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:12.120 Estra's father though, and like, what better way to spend 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:13.760 your money than to just be like, this is what 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:15.280 you want to do with your life, son? You want 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.920 to pursue art and live in beautiful Italy than like here, 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:21.600 this is what I want for you, and that's like 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:25.480 that's the pinnacle of what a parent can do for 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:28.240 their child in a lot of ways. No, totally, you know, 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:30.479 it's not like, hey, why don't you go, you know, 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:32.760 take up Heroin and here's a bunch of money for 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:36.080 you to like lay around in a bitha. True I 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:37.919 want to know more. I'm not I hope I'm not 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.040 coming across the cynical, but I wonder if some of 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:44.040 this was like he'll come around if I you know, 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:46.600 to architecture or whatever. You kept waiting for the part 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:49.880 where his father cuts him off. I was his father 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:53.320 apparently wouldn't like that. All right. I know, I'm not 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:55.200 trying to talk you into my way of thinking. I'm 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:57.760 not saying like I had. I started out thinking the 0:17:57.800 --> 0:17:59.840 same way you did. And then something happened. I was like, 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:01.840 it was actually really neat of his day. It was 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:05.640 it all seems above board. Yeah. So World War Two 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:10.600 has a profound effect on Esher and his work. He 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:14.760 learned that they were making his nine year old son, Georgio, 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:19.359 marching fascist youth parades, and he said, pack your bags, 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:22.040 were going to Switzerland. That is the appropriate response to 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:25.920 that news. Yeah, we're getting out of here, marching for 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:30.199 moose Lein. Have you seen Jojo Rabbit yet? No? Is 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:32.440 it good? Is it as good as it looks? It's great. 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:36.360 I can't everything about it. Do I need to see 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:38.040 in theater. It doesn't seem like one I have to 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:40.159 see any I mean, you know, it's always fun to 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:42.120 laugh with a big group of people, although by now 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:45.359 it's probably thinned out. Uh. And I was laughing a 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:47.960 lot and people weren't laughing. I like that kind of 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:50.399 one of those deals. I mean, it's a movie about 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:53.639 a kid having Hitler as an imaginary friend. So don't 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:56.080 tell me that I didn't know. I know, I had 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:58.600 no idea that was on the poster. I know, but 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:01.639 I didn't know he was an imaginary friend. Oh, get 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:05.080 out of my brain. Sorry, that really doesn't spoil anything. Okay, 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:09.000 don't tell me anything some big reveal. Um. So they 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:13.879 go to Switzerland. All apologies as long as it's not 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:16.560 a big spoiler. No, no, no no, no, of course not. Um. 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:19.640 They go to Switzerland and he even though he did 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.840 not like the mountains, he didn't like the snow, did 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:26.800 not like cold, weather. So they moved to Belgium after 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:30.720 a couple of years, which is just beautiful compared to Switzerland. 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.320 Belgium is nice. Uh. In the nineteen in May of 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:38.520 nineteen forty though, the Nazis invaded Belgium, and so they 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:41.920 moved to the Netherlands in ninety one, where the Nazis 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:46.080 already were. Yeah, I guess they can't occupy it again. 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:50.000 Well in its home. Uh, And they've settled in Barn, 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:54.040 which is about twenty three miles southeast of Amsterdam. I 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:56.119 don't know if that's how you're supposed to say it 0:19:56.200 --> 0:20:03.440 be a A A R. I like it's probably Barren. Oh, yeah, 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:05.359 I'll bet you just nailed it. I think so. But 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:09.840 duchess very strange. But it's not strange, but just for 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:13.200 my English, dumb English years, supposedly English is the strangest 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:16.520 of all. Yeah, I'm sure it's just a hybrid mongrel 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:19.840 language that doesn't make any sense to anyone who's not 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:21.920 a native speaker of it. You know, what is an 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:26.360 interesting language is Welsh. Because I'm watching the Crown and uh, 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:30.120 when Prince Charles starts coming around Prince of Wales, there's 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:33.240 people speaking Welsh and I was very ignorant about even 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:35.840 knowing that what it sounds like, what it sounds like, 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:38.920 and that it was still spoken, and uh, it was 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:42.000 a very odd hybrid. It sounded like several different things. 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:47.520 It's all old Celtic stuff. Yeah, very unusual gallic Gallic, Yeah, 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:50.000 I think it's Gallic. That's Galic language group, one of 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:52.960 the two. Yeah. Everything I know about Welsh I learned 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:56.880 from super furry animals. Oh yeah, because that guy's Welsh Man. 0:20:57.040 --> 0:20:59.640 I saw them blood Granddaddy off the stage one time. 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:02.520 Oh you saw him live? Oh I think he told me. 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:08.080 That melted my brain. So they're traveling around still, even 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:11.520 though they're settled in Barn, and they go back to 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:14.680 al Hambra in Spain, which I don't think we said 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:17.600 what that is. No, it's a it's a thirteenth century 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:21.240 Moorish castle from when the Moors conquered Spain's beautiful. It 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:23.280 is very beautiful, and they built it in the Moorish 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:25.800 style and then it was eventually like taken over by 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:30.439 the Christian like royalty that that explored the New World 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:34.240 and all that stuff. But this castle was done in 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:39.240 these tiles that are renowned for being some of the 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:44.320 most beautiful geometric like Islamic patterns you've ever seen in 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:47.840 your life. And they got to Escher. He'd seen him before, 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:50.000 but it was I guess he was like, oh, that's 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:52.440 kind of cool. But the second trip that he went 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:55.639 back with after they moved to from Switzerland, I think 0:21:55.680 --> 0:21:59.320 to Belgium or maybe to Switzerland. UM, that's when he 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:02.840 was like, I am obsessed with these now, please tessellations 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:07.240 started drawing him. Jetted it too, says that they worked together, 0:22:07.760 --> 0:22:09.560 so I'm not I didn't know that she was an artist. 0:22:10.359 --> 0:22:15.560 I didn't either, but they World War two comes back around? 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:18.159 Will that comes back around? And never left, let's be honest. 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:23.040 But UH Spain would devolve into civil war, and so 0:22:23.160 --> 0:22:26.640 this meant that he was kind of stuck in uh 0:22:27.400 --> 0:22:29.920