MAPOLOGY
My interest in the world of maps has largely informed a body of work that reinterpret cartographical charts. Drawn to the beauty of maps and motivated by a need to re-orientate myself within new spaces, MAPOLOGY, reinterprets geographical layouts in my own unique style.
Visually alluding to the evolving and mutative nature of maps and charts that represent human movement, growth, and development my map work recasts geographic diagrams as organisms: some with an earthy organic flavour while others reference biological imagery offering a sinewy, cellular appearance. The interlocking shapes often inherent in maps, to me, are analogous of the human body: a biological system having individual components that function together as a whole much the same as communities of people do.
My personal map experience that sets bearings and navigational order has fostered a fascination with cartography that is alluring both as a useful tool and as items of aesthetic appeal in themselves. Researching maps of many cities, regions, and countries, I take pleasure in decrypting the coded information held within the map lines and shapes. I do not seek to recreate maps as they are works of art in themselves: instead I reinterpret maps in my own anthropomorphic style embedding further conceptual meaning within my creative translations.
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City in Situ
Mixed media on paper 102cm x 106cm framed
depicts the Melbourane city shape sitting amongst its neighbouring destricts where formations interlock to form
a visually earthy relationship.
City Tram Lines sold
Mixed media on paper 104.5cm x 104.5cm framed
indicates the tram routes within the City of Melbourne.
Melbourne Main Roads sold
Mixed media on paper 104.5cm x 104.5cm framed
features the main road structure within the
City of Melbourne boundary zone.
Greater Melbourne Major Roads sold
Mixed media on paper 62cm x 62cm framed
abstracts the larger Melbourne metro area
overlaying it with a vessel-like matrix of roadways.
Living City
Acrylic paint on canvas 64cm x 64cm framed
This city shape, in filled with bulbous organic-like structures, aims to convey a sense of Melbourne as a living organism.
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Thinking City
Acrylic paint on canvas 102.5cm x 95cm framed
Inspired by images of brain matter, this piece reconfigures the council area shape as a thinking organ - the biological engine room of the Melburne metro area that stimulates activity.
Sunshine-ology
Mixed media on paper 113cm x 83cm unframed
Maps that abstractly overlay global surfaces undergo review and alteration - reflecting the changing nature of shifting populations, growth and development. The Sunshine Coast's geographical layout has also experienced transformation. The three council areas that existed prior to 2008, Caloundra, Maroochy, and Noosa, amalgamated into one becoming the Sunshine coast Regional Council. Aiming to infer the evolving nature of the Sunshine Coast's geography, Sunshine-ology injects a sense of biology into the division framework to reinterpret the area as an organic formation that lives, breathes and thrives. Suggestive of visceral matter, sinewy threads, veins and blood, the twelve division formation is painted as a cluster of anatomical-like organs via line, pattern and colour.
Suburban Organics sold
Mixed media on paper 102cm x 106cm framed
illustrates the suburb divisions within the
City of Melbourne via organic abstraction.
Sunshine Roadways
Mixed media on paper 100cm x 90cm framed
Sunshine Roadways is an artistic expression of a region: its colour and aerial perspective acknowledges townships pin pointed in red and interconnected via the winding access routes. Reinterpreting Queensland's Sunshine Coast map and inland ares, Sunshine Roadways presents a road configuration that can be viewed in organic terms as they twist and swerve their way across the landscape - surrounded by reflecting sprays, washes, and daubs of colour.
Board of Works 1898 sold
Mixed media on paper 56.5cm x 66cm framed
This work translates a 1898 Board of Works map into blocks of colour. This Fitzroy precinct (bordered by Nicholson, Gertrude and Brunswick Streets and Victoria Parade) which housed, and still houses, St Vincent's Hospital, was naturally smaller at that time and can be identified centre bottom in blocks of blue.
Microbiotic World
Mixed media on paper 75cm x 85cm framed
Painterly interpretation infills this map of St Vincents Hospital and was inpired by an elecron micrograph of streptococcus mutans
in dental plaque.
Aerial View of St Vincent's Hospital sold
Mixed media on paper 56.5cm x 66cm framed
Shown from above, this map of the St Vincents Hospital precinct illustrates the roofitop detail, shadow play and multi shape configuration in a grainy soft but contrasting painterly treatment.
Living Hospital sold
Mixed media on paper 75cm x 85cm framed
Focusing on a medical institution's relationship with biology, the footprint of St Vincent's Hospital layout is, here, infilled with visceral and biotic like shapes and patterns.