The map as art; contemporary artists explore cartography.

9781568987620

The map as art; contemporary artists explore cartography.

Harmon, Katharine.

Princeton Architectural Press

2009

255 pages

$45.00

Hardcover

N8222

Published in an oversized, horizontal format (10.25x9.25") and filled with color plates of excellent quality, this catalogue presents 350 works by an international range of artists, all of whom use, create, or somehow represent maps in their art. Themes such as personal terrain, inner visions, conflict/sorrow, and global reckoning provide the book's organization, with an essay by Gayle Clemans (Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle) on a featured artist introducing each theme. Landon Mackenzie, Ingrid Calame, and Maya Lin are featured, but judging from the quality of the works selected, any of the artists are noteworthy, and the book as a whole is unusually thought-provoking. If maps invoke a world, these maps invoke alternately the artist's world, or politics, or hopes, and fears. Includes a bibliography, but no index.

([c]2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR)