If it could be automated, imagine what such a technology would mean to the blind. Printed pictures would no longer be just blank pages...

I wonder if something could be done with bump maps [1] and a high-resolution printer by doing multiple passes.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump_map

Am I the only one who finds that kind of thing depressing?

Agreed. I can only look at it for a few moments, and I want to stop. Fuzzy, grey, depressing scenes. Mostly of hallways receeding or stairways. Blank, soulless, inorganic.

If that's what the artist was going for, then they succeeded.

This is awesome. I wonder which is the process for realizing one of those. How he can make a crease without breaking the others, for example.

He would be using tools like solid rulers to press them against paper. And he most probably use water and heat to shape 3d ovals.

If I had to guess, I'd say a stylus and a straightedge on a soft mat. Draw stuff with the stylus and then flip the paper over.

He probably doesn't fold the paper. My guess is a mold, or an edge, and he presses the paper against the edge.

Alas, it doesn't appear there are any M.C. Escher creased pages. I was really hoping to see this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Escher%27s_Relativity.jpg