Looking: Maps as art

I love maps. Always have. For as long as I can remember, sketching maps has helped me survive countless exams, boring church services, and slow days at work. On long car trips, I would browse the street directory, following our journey and trying to guess what the destination would be like. I quickly learnt that straight lines equal flat terrain, wobbly lines mean it's either hilly or an old part of town, and sphaghetti shapes probably means it's going to be a newer McMansion suburb. I also learnt that the messier the map looks, the worse the traffic will be (take Sydney or London as a case in point).


I haven't quite figured out why I love them so much. It could be the sense of discovery; the sense of finding somewhere new. Maybe it invokes a desire to travel and explore new places, a sort of abstract armchair travel. Perhaps it's simply a subconscious effort to escape wherever I am at that particular moment. Or it could just be that I like the look of them.

Several artists find maps similarly inspiring. The above work, Matrix by Emma Johnson, creates deconstructed maps using recycled materials, symbolising the tangible yet ambiguous nature of communication and transportation networks.

Another example is the late Burt Hasen, who was a soldier in World War II. Hasen's time spent reading maps on the field inspired him to spend the rest of his life creating cartographic art, such as Convulsive Coupling (below).

Looking: Tobias Rehberger

Why are Germans always the kinky ones? Tobias Rehberger is an installation and performance artist who sometimes dabbles in other media, such as photography. His work drips with satire, such as Untitled (above), which parodies Fergie's oh-so-90s toe-sucking antics, albeit with a cuter guy, and fluoro cardboard cutouts.

Rehberger's installation piece, the cheekily titled Lying Around Lazy, Not Even Moving for Coke, Sweets, TV or Vaseline, (1999 version), is kinky in a different way, because it sets out to deliberately reverse the usual artistic process. Usually, artists generate an artistic vision first, then execute this vision to be later enjoyed by the viewer. In this instance, Rehberger asked his friends what they would like in their ideal apartment. He then sought to recreate their vision without giving any input or feedback on what he thought of the idea. Similar to how bloggers created the plot for 'Snakes on a Plane' (but with much better results).

So what's my point? I guess what I'm saying is that Germans are kinky. That's all. I rest my case.

Looking: Iwan Baan

Iwan Baan is a Dutch photographer best known for his work with OMA/Rem Koolhaas. Obviously, this means he has plenty of divine architecture to use as material. But Baan goes beyond simply photographing buildings, and combines people and place in a way that few other photographers manage.

Pondering: Tattoo or not tattoo

Is it just me, or have tattoos been everywhere lately? On holidays in Byron Bay, at the gym, even at work, everyone seems to either have one, or be in the process of getting one.

Every time I go on holidays I tell myself that, this time, I will get a tatt. But when push comes to shove I either don't have the balls to go ahead with it, or I'm too afraid of my mother's reaction when I next see her. Probably a combination of both.

My other challenge is to answer the age-old questions of 'What?' and 'Where?'. I can't even find a shirt that I like in a week's time, let alone a motif that will mean something and not make me look tragic when I retire in 2048. And don't get me started on the location of said tattoo - will one on the arm make me look like a Cronulla local; the chest too much like a bra boy? It's all too hard.

Anyway, I think I've turned cold on the idea after reading Fecal Face's article on DIY-tattoos while eating today's lunch. I've never really thought of the actual process of tattooing, the act itself, but after doing just that, I'm not so sure. Fundamentally, DIY tatts are no different from what you get in a professional tatt house, but for some reason the idea of attaching a home-sterilised needle to the end of a pencil, dipping it into ink, and sticking hundreds of tiny holes into the back of my arm seems a little too grotesque.

So maybe it's not my lack of balls, my disapproving mother, or my issues about what and where. Maybe I'm just not a tatt kind of guy after all.

Looking: Darren Wardle

"it's like another perfect day... I love LA" - Randy Newman

Me too. Sure, LA's a sprawling, crime-ridden metropolis with vapid people and insane traffic, but I like it because it is, more than anything else, a microcosm of the world. Everyone you've ever met, every movie you've watched, every joke you've laughed at, and every tragedy that has made you shed a tear, has been put into one huge blender and poured across a concrete valley. There's nowhere else quite like it.

Darren Wardle is a Melbourne artist whose airbrushed, 80s-inspired artworks reference LA and other 'car cities' such as Las Vegas and, to a lesser extent, Melbourne and Sydney. His hypercolour, saturated and overexposed images are meticulously detailed and devoid of any human presence. His work depicts an artificial, almost dream-like world where perfection is both alluring and repelling. Kind of like LA, actually.

Wardle is represented by Sullivan+Strumpf in Sydney, and Nellie Castan Gallery in Melbourne.

Thinking: Arts in the USA

I was surprised to learn that the United States doesn't have any representation of Arts at the Senate or federal level. Although this is the land of Paris, Britney, Miley, and many other "artists" who have saturated the world's airwaves knows on a first-name basis, it is also home to one of the world's most dynamic contemporary arts scenes, particularly in Los Angeles and Miami, and, of course, the stalwart that is New York.

With Barack Obama's imminent inauguration, the calls to introduce a Secretary of the Arts are becoming increasingly loud. Arts advocates see Obama - who is said to be the most depicted president-elect in US history and has an iPod stocked with artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Jay-Z, John Coltrane and Bruce Springsteen - as their greatest chance in decades to make this happen.

Although we in Australia are not seen as being particularly cultured (despite our self-view - perhaps this is the very symbol of being uncultured; when we think we are despite evidence to the contrary), we have federal arts representation sitting within the menagerie of responsibilities under the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. The Arts component is mainly responsible for literature, film, indigenous arts and administering tax incentives.

It is hoped that a US Secretary of the Arts will be able to increase awareness of America's diverse arts amongst its own people, as well as administer grants, educate young people on art history

However with the country in the midst of an economic crisis, the possibility of Obama adding a new bureaucracy, no matter how committed to the arts he is, seems unlikely.

Looking: Wasteland

Wasteland, originally uploaded by traffman.

Untitled Urbanscape 5, Mauren Brodbeck 2004/2005

Untitled Urbanscape 9, Mauren Brodbeck 2004/2005

I've always admired the photography of Mauren Brodbeck, particularly the Untitled Urbanscape and Cityscape series which so brilliantly captures that sense of hopelessness and domination that one feels from bad architecture.

But, having not learnt the art of digital photo manipulation yet, I have to make do with taking photos of what I see. So I was delighted when I came across this brilliant blue wall in an abandoned car park on Parramatta Road somewhere near Granville.

Looking: Barbara Kruger

No More Junk, originally uploaded by traffman.

The lovely mondomuse kindly tells me that this pic reminds him of Barbara Kruger, the anxiety-inducing NY conceptual artist who pioneered guerilla art by plastering her work on billboards and bus shelters, long before Bansky.

Kruger's work has parallels to more contemporary satirical media, including The Simpsons and, more locally, Kath & Kim, as it subverts mass media and popular culture in a relevant and easily-digestible way.

You can create your own Kruger-esque images at the wonderful ConsumeDaily.