Mapping Artists

Hong Kong Diorama Map - Sohei Nishino

Sohei Nishino makes these beautiful diorama maps of cities showing the major landmarks and beautiful countryside and is put together in a collage. What I find interesting about this work is that it it realistic like a regular map, but instead of seeing useless tops of buildings, you see them at a better angle giving the impression of layering making it seem 3D.

Nishino's technique for acquiring these pictures of landmarks was by walking around and taking the picture himself with his camera. To think of how long it took to get all of these photos and walk around the whole city is astounding and shows dedication to his art.

 

 Map Roadways - Matthew Cusick

 Matthew Cusick uses old maps and cuts them out and pasts them together to create highways or modes of transportation for getting places. What I like about the use of maps to create and image is that it makes the highways symbolic and meaningful since maps represent a space that we can inhabit or explore and the way we do that is by driving on the freeway or on highways. It reminds me of a dream I had where I was in China on the run from the police for some reason, and I was driving on the highway really fast and it just kept on turning and turning while at the same time going higher and higher up into the air. I'm not sure what happened next but I always thought of that dream as an exciting adventure, or escape from normal life which is what a vacation should be.

Topographical relief carved into a roll of tape by Takahiro Iwasaki

What I like about this piece is the sheer intricacy of the cuts and ways Iwasaki cut the duct tape to create a 3D landscape. Perhaps this 3D sculpturing has potential in creating 3D stickers, since all you would have to do is cut of the piece of tape the landscapes stuck to and stick it anywhere! Whether or not this is an actual city my best bet is that it isn't, but the fact that it's carved from duct tape makes it awesome.

Tourism Examples

Here is an example of a nice tourist post-card / poster which sells the beauty and convenience of the San Francisco land scape. I notice that they show boats and a car displaying how easy it is to get around and see the sights in San Francisco, while at the same they are advertising them. Key aesthetics to this picture is the cool rolling waves of the ocean contrasting the bright white clouds in the sky. The time of day being around sunrise or sunset also helps with the bright orange light that really brings out all the colors.

Here's an example of tourism for a town called Nice. It's Nice! The poster shows a classy lady lounging on a sunny colonnade gazing at the cool, hip suburbia and blue ocean. I have no idea where Nice is exactly but looking at the picture makes me think that people who would want to vacation there and stroll around in your finest evening-wear. Again this poster has the cool blue ocean contrasted by the brilliant orange which is reflected off the surfaces to attract the viewers attention, like a city of gold. My best guess is that this place is most likely Los Angeles or something due to the palm trees and high class theme they sell to the viewers.

 

 This poster shows the union terminal in Cleveland which advertises the train company. The building is shown in a bright heavenly light giving it the larger than life scale, which the people on the ground being extremely small. By having the tiny humans with the huge building in the background it amplifies the magnificence of the building giving it the impression that it was a holy or important landmark in Cleveland. The color scheme gives it a strange nostalgia, like you're touring Cleveland, seeing the sights, and after a long days of exploring the town of Cleveland, home of Bone Thugz-N-Harmony, you go back to the train station and take the train back home to your house to rest and get ready for a new day. 

 More examples of tourism posters I found:

 

Virtual Intervention

Location: Buckeye sculpture in front of the GYM building, San Francisco State