Escher Round 2: The chicken and the egg

I have been a fan of Escher's "Drawing Hands" since before I could pronounce skepticism. It's a paradox on paper in a very different way than optical illusions. It plays with reason rather than perception calling back to the problem of the chicken and the egg.

In most optical illusions our brains extrapolate and fill in gaps to make functional objects. In Drawing Hands, our brains very quickly see two hands with pens and then notice the logical impossibility of the hands drawing themselves. I love how this seems to have the same emotional effect as an optical illusion even though it's not our visual senses being confused, but our sense of reason.

This is, in my opinion, an excellent example of visual art that forces the viewer to question their own reasoning.

Summary: Awesome.

Can art be skeptical?

What is skepticism?

In my mind skepticism is rigorous and conscious questioning of information and the world around you. It is the act of investigation and thinking critically about what you perceive and consciously reviewing your own beliefs.

What is art?

Well this is a very difficult question. For the sake of this blog, art is a creative endeavor meant to inform or entertain.

What is skeptical art?

Skeptical art is a creative creation that intentionally encourages the audience to think, to question themselves, and to look again to really believe.

Why am I creating this blog?

I am an artist and a skeptic. I would like a forum to collect to stunning examples of skeptical art that I find and to share it with others. I'm hoping that someday others will start to submit examples to me themselves of skeptical art and perhaps a small community will form.

Being an artist myself, I will be presenting some of my own work as well. I apologize in advance for the apparent arrogance of putting my own work beside the works of great artists. But hey, it's the internet. If I can't stroke my own ego here, then where?


To start, I will put up some work from one of the most famous artists that I am aware of creating skeptical art. I give you M.C. Escher.






































Belvedere - 1958
M.C. Escher (1989-1972)