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About this quote

What does it mean?
Escher views his artistic process as a serious game or puzzle that requires intense focus and rules.
In plain terms
He treats his art like a serious game or puzzle.
What can you take from it?
Creativity involves serious play.

Where it applies

  • describing artistic process
  • discussing creative work
  • explaining hobbies

Putting it to work

  • approaching work as play
  • engaging in creative puzzles

Questions to consider

  • How serious is your play?
  • Is your work a game?

Another view

Some people view art as purely emotional expression rather than a structured game.

More from M. C. Escher

  1. We live in a beautiful and orderly world, not in a chaos without norms, as we sometimes seem to.

    Permalink to quote #1
  2. It is human nature to want to exchange ideas, and I believe that, at bottom, every artist wants no more than to tell the world what he has to say. I have somet…

    Permalink to quote #3
  3. The result of the struggle between the thought and the ability to express it, between dream and reality, is seldom more than a compromise or an approximation. …

    Permalink to quote #4

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