Maps and the City

So, I stumbled upon this map on Pinterest, a cool Mondrian style world map. It was posted on a blog called College Life DIY by Vanessa. And I am so happy she did because it let me to the site of ArtPause. It just won’t get much better than this site… Jawdropping map designs all over the place. Yay! I will only post two here, please go their Etsy site to see all of there amazing prints.

This will not be an elaborate blog because I will think you should really check this project on the website of creator Kentaro Nagai… This project is about creating the twelve animals signs from the Japanese Zodiac from parts of the map of the world. The concept is called PIECE TOGETHER FOR PEACE. Watch the process on this website and be amazed! It is not a very recent project (2007) but it will still blow you off the map with its details.

Luckily, my friends stay on the look out for cool map stuff also. I received a suggestion to blog about these atlas cutouts (Thanks A!). I think these art works are amazing: incredibly detailed and rather enchanting if you ask me. The cutouts are made by Claire Brewster, an artist from from Lincolnshire who lives in London. Brewster creates cutouts from old and neglected maps and she focuses on the presence of nature, even in urban areas. The cutouts form installations, either pinned to the wall or captured in box frames. The flora and fauna in Brewster’s work give a feeling of movement, because of  the shadows of the cutouts when a light shines on them. Impressive map art!

Created by Matthew Lethelä, aka @harajukumatt , these are awesome world maps known as the One Planet_ series. I like the rather clean design of these!

Last week I spent a few days (work-related) on the amazing Affordable Art Fair in Amsterdam, and I felt lucky, because I know this fair is so much fun to visit. There is loads to see and get inspired by,  from paintings to sculptures, all for sale between 100 and 5.000 euros.  I was happy to spot some map art as well! For example, the Parisian gallery Envie d’Art presented these very cool works by Elisabeth Lecourt. #like!

Peter Clark creates some pretty cool things: collages out of paper, and he loves to work with old maps. This results in wonderful items, such as the following. Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery in London represents Clark, you can actually see a lot of his work on their beautiful site.

Last but not least, my favourite:

Awesome. James Bridle created this hack for Google Maps. On his site, you can enter an adress and create an kaleidoscopic map. Check it out yourself on Rorschmap and be amazed. I sure am! (Thanks for the tip R. & D., which actually sounds like my very own R&D department!)

Sometimes you come across things that just speak for themselves,  no big stories needed. On this grey day I just want to share these amazing works. I found them collected on the cool website Socks Studio, always worth your visit! The first two are works by Enrico Bonafede (Studio Volk, based in Rome), the others are by Matthew Cusick, from his Map Works series (Cusick is based in New York).  Be amazed.

I visited Art Rotterdam this weekend and got inspired by the works presented there by top galleries like Stella Lohaus from Belgium and Krinzinger from Austria. The fair (12d edition this year) is situated in the beautiful Cruise Terminal (the former departure hall for the Holland America Line) which results in a nice industrial atmosphere. My favourite works at this edition of Art Rotterdam all had something to do with architecture, urban development and photography. I just wanted to share a few favourites with you (some of these works were shown at the 2011 edition of Art Rotterdam, I found some others by checking out the websites of the artists and galleries). Already looking forward to Art Rotterdam 2012!

Melting Havana, Stephane Couturier, Courtesy: Van Kranendonk Gallery

serie Verwoest Huis, Marjan Teeuwen, Courtesy: Cokkie Snoei

7Architecture of Density #57, Michael Wolf, Courtesy: Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen