Another Strook with something I drew, read, and listened to.
Drawing
I recently started volunteering at the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam. It's great fun and every week there's something new to marvel at. In the museum itself, where an exhibition on Dots, Stripes & Spirals in nature has just opened, but especially in the collection depots where I work.
Last week, for example, a box of mammoth bones was being sorted next to me. Coincidentally, I had just taken my mammoth drawing out of the closet a few days earlier. In this work, I try to incorporate Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, the gigantic room-filling (and programmable) calculator that Babbage fully developed in the 19th century but never managed to realize due to its complexity.
Babbage inspired me to draw the Mathematical Mammoth, a new part of my Mechanical Animals series. I regularly picked up the drawing over the past few years, but always got stuck. I seem to have solved the puzzle and have finally sketched it further. Hopefully, I will be able to share the final result with the accompanying story in the coming weeks.
Reading
During the fall break, we visited Escher in the Palace. I always love to endlessly admire Escher's details and techniques, but his work took on extra meaning during this visit because I recently read Escher worden. In this book, Joris Escher follows in the footsteps of his great-uncle M.C. Escher.
At first, I put the book aside because of its unusual narrative form. Joris Escher writes part of the book as a novel, giving his own interpretation of his great-uncle's thoughts. He alternates this with his personal quest: he tries out his great-uncle's techniques himself and travels to the places where M.C. Escher lived, drew, and found inspiration. Such as Italy, where Escher lived for a long time and made endless mountain walks, which he recorded on paper. In the end, I was glad I wasn't put off by the narrative style. A fascinating book about how Escher became who he was.
Listen
A gift this weekend! My favorite artist, Waxahatchee, is releasing an album with her twin sister and MJ Lenderman under the band name Snocaps. Optimistic, beautiful, and probably going to be on repeat for a while.
See you next week!