


Here's the thing, I have a great sense of direction, been that way since I can remember. But I also love maps and even if I don't really need one, I want one. I'm not sure what it is; the fact I'm moving, headed somewhere new or familiar, the lines, the grid, the names, the distances... I don't know. Maps are just damn cool. I think I picked this up from my Dad. As a kid, no matter where we were headed, he always brought a trusty map, whether we needed it or not, because sometimes, maybe we took a different route along the way. Maybe we'd get lost, maybe we wouldn't, but it was fun! And if we really did get lost, we'd have our trusty map... and compass (my Dad wasn't a boy scout, but he was always prepared!).
Unfortunately the maps of
Paula Scher above probably wouldn't have helped us much if we got lost, but her typographic prowess is utterly beautiful! She began painting colorful typographic maps of the world in the 1990's (continents, countries, islands, oceans, cities, streets and neighborhoods) as a reaction against information overload and the constant stream of news, which, like the paintings, present skewed versions of reality in a deceptively authoritative way. They caught on... and now the paintings have been collected in
Paula Scher: MAPS, out now from
Princeton Architectural Press. It's a must for my Amazon wish list!
via Pentagram:
MAPS presents 39 paintings, drawings, prints and environmental installations, including Scher’s recent commission for New York City’s Queens Metropolitan Campus. Many of Scher’s original paintings are huge—as tall as 12 feet—and the book reproduces the works in full and in life-size details that reveal layers of hand-painted place names, information and cultural commentary. The book’s jacket folds out into a 3’ by 2’ poster of a portion of World Trade, one of Scher’s most recent paintings, from 2010.Scher has been a principal in the New York office of design consultancy
Pentagram since 1991. A very impressive lady indeed!
Images from MONOmoda website.