About Me
Michael Cheshire - Impossible Geometry
Impossible figures, are figures that can be imagined or drawn but not made in any solid form. Each corner or intersection may be rational but as a whole looks impossible and hence brings endless fascination as ones focus moves around the image constantly.
First drawn by Swede Oscar Reutersvard in the 1930’s and later rediscovered by Sir Roger Penrose in the 1950’s and most famously incorporated by M, C, Escher in his pictures .
My own fascination started in the 60’s after seeing some of Esher’s work. I have been drawing optical illusions and impossible figures ever since.
I now turn my designs into solid works made from natural wood veneers. Each piece is made from a base of mdf and veneered on the rear and edges to fit the design and stabilise the work.
The veneers are 0.6 mm thick, they have a reverse side and grain direction, so have to be correctly aligned otherwise the light doesn’t reflect properly. I use only the natural wood colour to get the optical effects.
The veneers themselves come with different grains, textures, colour changes, mostly local or Australasian trees that each have lived for sometimes hundreds of years.
The veneers themselves come with different grains, textures, colour changes, mostly local or Australasian trees that each have lived for sometimes hundreds of years.
Silky Oak – Grevillea robusta
Queensland Maple – Flindersia brayleyana
Queensland Walnut – Endiandra palmerstonii
Blackbean – Castanospermum australe
Silver Ash – Flindersia bourjotiana
Hoop Pine – Araucaria cunninghamii
Rosewood – Pterocarpus indicus
Jarrah – Eucalyptus marginata
Dilienia – Dillenia sp.
Blush Alder – Sloanea australis
Blue Gum – Eucalyptus saligna
New Guinea Walnut – Cryptocarya sp.
Blackbutt – Eucalyptuys pilularis
Spotted Gum – Corymbia maculata
Red Cedar – Toona ciliata
Queensland Cherry – Sloanea australis
American White Oak – Quercus alba
Oregon – Pseudotsuga menziesii
Coachwood – Ceratopetalum apetalum
Chilean Myrtle – Luma apiculata
Turpentine – Syncarpia glomulifera
Ironbark – Eucalyptus paniculata
Victorian Ash – Eucalyptus regnans
Queensland Wattle – Acacia crassicarpa
Gidgee – Acacia cambagei
Tasmanian Blackwood – Acacia mearnsii
Western red cedar – Thuja plicata
Karri gum – Eucalyptus diversicolor
Marri – Corymbia calophylla
My Work
Simplicity | Symmetry | Nonsense
Impossible world website contains a vast list of drawings incorporating impossible figures with a page dedicated to my work, and the grey scale library has a comprehensive list of designs.
I have several of my designs listed there, Number 892 being made into my large piece “The Cure“ which is hanging in the atrium of the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and tells the story of my fight with cancer. It is still ongoing and I have been a regular volunteer at the hospital for 17 years.
Number 909, (42 Triangles) I made with Queensland Maple, Silver Ash and Queensland Walnut and is featured in Brad Honeycutt’s, ‘The Art of Deception’ ISBN 13.978- 1-62354-037-1.
I have a growing and substantial following on social media including many leaders in the fields of Mathematics, Optical illusions, Neurology and Psychology.
I am working at the moment with Cubic designs I call Oscar Cubes and the work I am doing now is a similar design to The Cure but made more effective with a cubic design.
My work has been recognised at https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/out-of-the-woods1/
I have worked in collaboration with #1 Belgian artist Georges Meurant and Brisbane photographer William Long {Longshots Photography} has used some of my designs for the base of his entry into the 2018 Qppa and Appa.
One of my op art drawings from the 1970’s ‘Hexagonal Vortex’ represents Australia as part of an optical illusion display in an old museum at Tula, Russia. My work “All are one” won the people’s choice award at The Cathedral of St. Stephens art group competition in 2017.
In 2019 I entered the best illusion of the year contest, but did not make the final 10 – http://illusionoftheyear.com/. I was on the selection panel for the final 10 in 2021. This year I have an entry again and waiting for the final 10 to be announced. See my Youtube channel.
I enclose a few photos of my work and more can be seen on my Facebook page.