Untitled
Guillermo Kuitca
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Argentine artist Guillermo Kuitca's use of maps in his artwork presents the juxtaposition of two very polar ideas: public and private space. His 1992 work Untitled is comprised of 20 child-sized beds, imprinted with maps and joined together like continents on a globe.
Above: Untitled, 1992, Acrylic on mattress with wood and bronze legs
Peace During Wartime
Marcel Mariën
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Surrealist artist Marcel Mariën's Peace During Wartime was likely inspired by his time fighting in World War II, where he was stationed in Germany and captured as a prisoner of war. The work depicts a map of Europe laid over an idyllic countryside scene.
Above: Peace During Wartime, 1940, 2 Lithographs on paper
United Kingdon
Layla Curtis
Location: London
London-based artist Layla Curtis is best known for her intricate collages and drawings of maps. United Kingdom depicts road maps of the UK, produced by cutting up small squares of commercial atlases mounted on hardboard. Of her work, Curtis has said, "By dissecting, dismembering, and collaging maps to create new, hybrid maps, I aim to explore the effects of disturbing this trusted system of mapping."
Above: United Kingdom, 1999, 2 works on paper, lithograph, mounted onto foam core on hardboard
Mappa
Alighiero Boetti
Location: Rome, Italy
Alighiero Boetti's famous work Mappa was created with help from Afghan craftswomen who embroidered large images of maps on linen, just as a Communist-leaning government took power in Kabul. Boetti himself was known to have been fascinated by the maps of war zones on the front of Italian newspapers.
Above: Mappa, 1971-1972, Embroidery on linen
Lost
Kathy Prendergast
Location: London
Kathy Prendergast's Lost portrays a map of the United States, omitting all location names except for those that mention the word "lost," a play on the traditional use of a map for providing direction. Much of Prendergast's body of work in the 1980s was focused on the theme of mapping and territory lines.
Above: Lost, 1999, Digital print on paper
MAPPING THE STUDIO II with color shift, flip, flop, & flip/flop (Fat Chance John Cage)
Bruce Nauman
Location: Galisteo, NM
Bruce Nauman's video installation MAPPING THE STUDIO II is the second iteration in laying out his studio in New Mexico, using seven DVDs of footage shot on a digital camera. It features works in progress, materials in the studio, and the sounds of the studio as captured at night.
Above: MAPPING THE STUDIO II with color shift, flip, flop, & flip/flop (Fat Chance John Cage), 2001, Installation
Map with Fraser
Larry Rivers
Location: New York
Known by many as the "grandfather" of pop art, Larry River's Map with Fraser features a recurring cut-out portrait of a man laid atop a map of London.
Above: Map with Fraser, 1966, Screenprint and mixed media on paper
Blue Lake Pass
Maya Lin
Location: Vermont
Maya Lin's Blue Lake Pass depicts a path along the Rocky Mountains using particleboard glued together to create a volumetric topographical map, allowing those who view it to walk through and participate in the art.
Above: Blue Lake Pass, 2006, Particleboard and glue
Kara' Wave
Matthew Cusick
Location: Dallas, TX
Much of artist Matthew Cusick's body of work consists of intricate map collages, pasting together maps of differing sizes and colors to create portraits and landscapes. Of his work with maps, Cusick has said, "The people I construct out of maps represent certain ideas and moments in time that resonate deeply with me. The maps I choose for each work relate to that person's timeline and history."
Above: Kara's Wave, 2009, Inlaid map, acrylic on panel
Composite Map 1
Rebecca Riley
Location: Brooklyn, NY
In 2012, Rebecca Riley produced a show titled Randomland, depicting her series' invented worlds, built from numerous types of maps and atlases. Riley's fascination with maps has extended far, with many of her works spanning the globe of continents and countries.
Above: Composite Map 1, 2012, Acrylic on canvas
Africa
Paula Scher
Location: New York
Paula Scher's black and white map of Africa highlights the continent's many countries and cities, with a nod to its tortured colonials' past.
Above: Africa, 2003, Acrylic on canvas
The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise
Giovanni di Paolo
Location: Italy
Giovanni di Paolo's The Creation of the World and the Expulsion of Paradise depicts Adam and Eve's fall from Paradise with a "mappamondo" (a world map), shown as a globe surrounded concentric circles depicting different elements.
Above: The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise, 1445, Tempera and gold on wood
Red Atmosphere #19
Erik Laffer
Location: Schuylerville
Erik Laffer's Red Atmosphere #19 is part of a larger 2008 exhibit called Cartography Series. Laffer said that his goal with the Cartography paintings is to, as J.B. Harley writes, "redescribe the world," or at his own small world as an artist. He adds, "Just as there is a language of map-making, there is also a style and body of symbols in my paintings that define the landscape of each work."
Above: Red Atmosphere #19, 2009, Oil on canvas
Targets
Joyce Kozloff
Location: New York
Joyce Kozloff's body of work has been inspired by mapping since the '90s, when she began mixing maps and other mediums to portray themes on history and culture. Her piece Targets consists of a 9-foot walk-in globe depicting the locations around the world that have been bombed by the United States since World War II.
Above: Targets, 2001, Installation
Winjana Gorge, Kimberleys, I
Fred Williams
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Australian artist Fred Williams has always been inspired by the lush and varied landscapes across his native country. Winjana Gorge, Kimberleys, I portrays a bird's eye and map-like view of the country's most Northwest region.
Above: Winjana Gorge, Kimberleys, I, 1981, Oil on canvas
Woman with a Lute
Johannes Vermeer
Location: Delft, The Netherlands
It's easy to suggest that Johannes Vermeer was frequently inspired by maps, especially those of Europe, from their appearance in many of his paintings. This one, Woman with a Lute, portrays a young woman playing an instrument and gazing out the window.
Above: Woman with a Lute, ca. 1662–63, Oil on Canvas
Isometric Systems in Isotropic Space-Map Projections: Fragmentation, The Snail
Agnes Denes
Location: New York
Agnes Denes began producing map projections, topographical drawings produced with graphic paper, watercolor, and ink in the 1960s. Critics suggest that her global portraits intended to make viewers consider the world and how it's been inhabited in a new light.
Above: Isometric Systems in Isotropic Space-Map Projections: Fragmentation, The Snail, 1979, Ink and metallic ink on graph paper and Mylar
London Subterranea
Stephen Walter
Location: London
Commissioned for the London Transport Museum's 2012 Mind the Map exhibition, Stephen Walter's map depicts the Tube lines, sewers, tunnels, and underground paths that make up London's underground.
Above: London Subterranea, 2012, Archival inkjet with silkscreen varnishes and gold and silver leaf
The Great Bear
Simon Patterson
Location: London
Simon Patterson's 1992 work The Great Bear is an adaptation of the official map of the London Underground, with station names replaced by those of actors, philosophers, saints, and others resposible for major world events.
Above: The Great Bear, 1992, Lithograph on paper
Daylight Map
Olafur Eliasson
Location: Berlin
Olafur Eliasson's Daylight Map depicts the world's different time zones in neon, which light up as the specific daylight hours in each as they occur.
Above: Daylight Map, 2005, Neon
Vermont, Franklin
Ed Ruscha
Location: Culver City, CA
Much of Ed Ruscha's work has been influenced by mapping, particularly his 1998 series based on specific Los Angeles intersections.The blue paint and sparse detail suggest that Ruscha has removed the chaos of a typically busy location and reduced it to a simple name and shape.
Above: Vermont, Franklin, 1998, Acrylic on canvas
WWW (World Map), Pictures of Junk
Vik Muniz
Location: New York
Vik Muniz's global map, part of a 2008 series called Pictures of Junk, was constructed using day-to-day items salvaged from urban junkyards.
Above: WWW (World Map), Pictures of Junk, 2008, Photograph
Over-flight No II Aerial Map
Burt Hasen
Location: New York
Though his career spanned decades, much of Burt Hasen's artwork was influenced by his time spent serving in the Air Force during World War II. While in the Pacific, where he was stationed, his work involved a constant study of aerial maps, which likely inspired the map-like abstract paintings he made later in life.
Above: Over-flight No II Aerial Map, 1993, Oil on canvas
Untitled
Kim Jones
Location: New York
Kim Jones Untitled is part of a series of map drawings depicting battles that have been erased and re-imagined.
Above: Untitled, 1995-1996, Graphite on paper
Port Hueneme to Santa Barbara
Julian Schnabel
Location: New York
Part of a series called Navigation Drawings, Julian Schnabel's Port Hueneme to Santa Barbara consists of a nautical map covered with simple black paintstrokes.
Above: Port Hueneme to Santa Barbara, 2007, Oil on map mounted on linen