This past weekend some friends and I finally got to do something we’ve been wanting to do all summer, but were never all available on a Saturday – and this was a visit to Brooklyn’s new(ish) Industry City in Sunset Park…and the MC Escher exhibit.

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Industry City used to be just dilapidated, mostly unused warehouse space along the waterfront of Sunset Park in south Brooklyn. Back in the day, ships would carry product/materials to Brooklyn’s waterfront area so it was mostly covered piers and warehouses for offloading and storage. Over time, this part of commerce has diminished, and with it, the need for so much storage space. Piers, so exposed to the elements and water, eventually crumbled or were disassembled…and giant warehouses were abandoned. There’s little to no residential space in these areas, so destruction and crime were rampant. But now, with space in the “cool” parts of Brooklyn becoming so so expensive, developers are looking for new frontiers…and they found it in South Brooklyn.

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Someone had the genius to buy up like 5 blocks of these old warehouses, renovate them, and turn them into trendy retail and community space. The buildings house shops, studios, galleries, food courts – all with magnificent high ceilings and giant windows creating incredible light-filled spaces. The outdoor spaces between the buildings have cafes, walkways, green spaces, a concert stage, art and seating. We browsed The Brooklyn Flea, had lunch, and partook of some photo opps in the many scenic spots.

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But wait! There’s…
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While just browsing the different sights and sounds (and snacks) of Industry City was fun for the day, the main attraction for us was the MC Escher exhibit. As I shared in my last post, a lot of people know the works of Escher from wall calendar pictures of never-ending staircases and other optical illusion type drawings. But there was so much more to his work and life.

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He lived from 1898 to 1972. That is an amazing period of time to have experienced! Many say his work was more mathematical than artistic because of his frequent use of geometric shapes and exploring the concept of infinity in one dimension. The exhibit was so interesting because I never knew of his other kinds of work.

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He frequently used tessellation in his work – which means repeating shapes without any overlaps or empty gaps. In the center of the image below you see the repeating shapes of white geese…and the space between them is repeating images of black geese.
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And red bulldogs…and the opposing white bulldogs. I can’t draw ONE bulldog, ha!
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Do you see Evil Black Bats? Or White Angels??
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Tessellated flooring!
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I love this one, almost like a botanical print, but see how everything fits in together almost like puzzle pieces?
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I wonder if something like this….
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…inspired someone like Keith Haring?
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He created woodblocks, painstakingly carving out detailed images….and lithographs from the woodblocks.
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And the most fun were the interactive features of the exhibition.
From this…
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to this!
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In this drawing he showed a keen control of perspective…
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Then we got to play with real life forced perspective.
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No perspective here, I was just pooped. We walked almost 3 miles that day. That’s a lot for fat old me!
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Some final words from Mr. Escher.
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One of the buildings in Industry City painted in a pop art comic book style.
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After Escher and some lunch, we headed to Red Hook – another waterfront area in Brooklyn. We found a nice view of lower Manhattan – The Financial District – from a park.

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And we ended up at Steve’s Key Lime Pie where I had one last treat before heading home.

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It was a good day. I love exploring different neighborhoods and finding new things to see and do. Brooklyn is just an endless bounty of goodness for me. I hope you enjoyed “going along with me” and seeing some new places yourself.

I’ve been struggling for fashion-related content again with the very hot humid weather and so many rainy days. I like doing posts like this…as I like seeing where you live and what you do! I’m thinking about doing a feature like this a couple times a month-ish. Since I’m not doing Sentence-a-Day anymore, this might be a nice replacement. Thoughts??

What I Wore:

Thanks to my friend Linda and That Other Friend Who Shall Remain Nameless for the pictures of me.
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