With the growing popularity of in-car navigation systems and the abundance of online mapping services like MapQuest and Yahoo Maps, paper road maps are no longer the tool most drivers rely on for navigation. However artists are finding unique and exciting ways to use these colorful and beautiful road maps.
Artist Shannon Rankin recognizes the beauty that road maps offer, she treats them as pieces of decorative paper in which to manipulate. Through intricate cutting and folding she creates “new geographies, suggesting the potential for a broader landscape.” The maps cut apart and re-arranged become more like terrains.
Fracture, 2009, cut map on paper, 20″ x 20″
Pod, 2009, cut map on paper, 20″ x 20″
Recently I ran across a blog that is dedicated to the creative use of maps, Creative Mapping. Joao Machado is one of my favorite featured artists; he explores maps as a medium like paint in creating his figures.
Swimming, 2007, map collage, 125×180 cm
African war dance, 2007, map collage, 45×76 cm
Barbazul, 2007, map collage, 66×45 cm
