Maps in Art

Shannon rankin is an American artist from California, however, she attended Maine College of Art in the nineties and still resides in Maine to this day. Rankin’s subject matter centers around human anatomy and it’s connection with maps and geographical phenomenon

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Matthew Cusick is an American artist who uses small paper fragments of maps in his work. Collage is a common theme in his pieces, which he uses in a very expressionist fashion.  “Their palette is deliberate and symbolic, acting as a cognitive mechanism to help us internalize the external.”

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Ingrid Dabringer is an artist who has lived in many different places, making her familiar with maps. By the time she was 13, she had lived in Indonesia, Lebanon, Canada, Mexico, Ecuador, the United States and Austria. Dabringer’s work is centered around visual interpretations in maps and finding whimsical imagery hidden within the landscape. Although she is still active, not much is published on the internet regarding Dabringer’s personal life.

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Towards a Concrete Utopia

After the Tito-Stalin split in 1948, former Yugoslavia was expelled from the Soviet Union and left to govern itself, as it had become largely independent post-WWII. This gives the context for Towards a Concrete Utopia, an art exhibit containing sketches, drawings, photos and models of Yugoslav architecture from 1948 to 1992. Much Yugoslav architecture had been inspired by the brutalism and soviet aesthetics as well as the need for space efficient housing. Elements of futurist/modernist design can are incorporated while the building still serves a utilitarian purpose. This is how much architecture in socialist countries differed from that of capitalist countries: structures were typically more efficient as their design was based on need rather than making something seem luxurious.

I chose this exhibit for my write up because my Grandparents immigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union. Although they came from Ukraine and not Yugoslavia, I still feel it interests me because the exhibit shows the Yugoslav adaptation of an aesthetic shared by a large part of Eastern Europe. I very much enjoy the the idea of utilitarianism in architecture on grounds of sustainability and believe efficient and comfortable housing should be universally available.

My personal opinion: I admire every piece in this exhibit because infrastructure is crucial to the functioning of any community and every artist included has contributed to that. I love brutalist architecture and enjoy that Yugoslavia created their own brand of it. As the Soviet Union was extremely ethnically diverse, it is inevitable that variations of a style would arise.

Banksy

Banksy is an English street artist whose identity remains unconfirmed, however, he is arguably one of the most famous artists in his trade. Banksy began making art at 14 and was expelled from school in his hometown in Easton, Bristol, United Kingdom. He is known for his stencil graffiti that is often somehow worked into the cityscape. There are many theories regarding who banksy actually is but it is crucial that his identity remains unknown to the public because graffiti is illegal. The range of Banksy's subject matter is so wide that it wouldn't really fit a genre, however, much of his work centers around a general commentary on the law and social norms. There is an undeniable truth to his work often conveyed through harsh but sometimes humorous depictions of reality.

A recent controversy surrounding Banksy arose on October 2nd, 2018, at Sotheby's art auction in New York. A piece of his titled Girl With Balloon was sold for $1.4 million. Soon after, the painting self-destructed, as Banksy had implanted a shredder in the frame. The mechanism malfunctioned and only shredded the painting half way but the dramatic effect was still there. I think this is an interesting statement on the value we put on love and how fragile and based on nothing our concept of value really is. He also pissed a lot of stupidly wealthy people which is always a good time.


 
  

BELIN

Miguel Ángel Belinchón or more commonly referred to by his pseudonym, BELIN, is a self-proclaimed postneocubist hailing from Linares, Jaén, Spain. Belin was born on September 26th, 1979. As a child he had always been interested in art but began taking it seriously after attending Jaén High School. He started teaching himself to use spray paint in 1995 to do murals, grafitti and other paintings. Belin's unique style takes great influence from Pablo Picasso. He tends to depict normal people in normal situations using abstract, cubist aesthetics. Personally, I very much admire the ability to achieve such precise portrayals spray paint as I find it somewhat hard to control. There is a sense of realism in his work that is made to feel almost vulgar due to Belin's absurdist nature.

Pictures of Charley

These are some of the favorite pictures on my phone of the man, the myth, the legend, Charley Baker

Meshes of the Afternoon

Maya Deren’s 1943 short film “Meshes of the Afternoon” is to this day, my favorite example of multi perspective media. This experimental movie uses different camera angles and crude editing to give the illusion of an area being larger than it actually is. The film also uses similar techniques to create new dimensions to a room. The plot follows a woman who is dreaming. Over the course of the dream she follows a hooded animus figure with a mirror for a face but can never seem to catch it. The woman treks through several different disorientatingly surreal rooms only to eventually find the hooded figure putting a knife under her pillow. The representation of an internal struggle existing only in the subconscious could also be considered a different perspective. Not only does this film use backdrops that are multi perspective illustrations but it also adds a second way to view reality in the movie.

3 people I admire

Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke's writing has definitely had a major influence on the aesthetics and subject matter I choose when making art. I very much admire his ability to evoke fear in the reader just by presenting them with an unexplained, large object with a smooth surface. It is almost communicating that the straight line or perfect geometry is a signal of intelligent life, however, this is never directly touched upon, making it that much eerier. One of Clarke's most famous example of this concept would be the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). In both the scene at the excavation site on the moon and of the early humans, all were confused by the monolith despite it being such a simple structure. This idea is also prevalent in Clarke's 1973 book Rendevous with Rama. The humans who discover Rama are unsure about what it is because it seems to be an empty structure that they can't explain. Arthur C. Clarke has the ability to make a reader uncomfortable by forcing them to acknowledge the existence of the unknown and that it is bigger than they are.

Richard Nixon

How I long to know the feeling of security and general bliss of living under the Nixon administration. I love Richard Nixon with all of my heart and I want the sunlight reflecting off of his beautiful smile to shine down on me. Mister Nixon is devoted to protecting democracy around the world reaffirming the American public that EVERYBODY'S VOTE COUNTS. If I were alive under Nixon, I would have pledged my life to his greatness and live to crush any country attempting to liberate itself from imperial rule. Remember: you can't lick our dick!

Ozzy Osbourne

The rich yet eerie voice of Ozzy Osbourne will forever inspire me. I will never forget the punishing guitar riffs and experimental song writing that Black Sabbath utilized. I am also very much inspired by Osbourne's unique perspective on religion; it is that is God is something you must find within you and define for yourself rather than to follow a book. Ozzy Osbourne will also never die because he isn't dead yet. I hope he outlives me.