City Landscapes Merge with Intricately Rendered Figures in Ed Fairburn’s Portraits on Classic Maps — Colossal
2 min read
Artwork
Historical past
#drawing
#Ed Fairburn
#geography
#maps
#portraits
December 7, 2022
Kate Mothes

“Plymouth.” All photographs © Ed Fairburn, shared with permission
Alongside the contours of roads, property boundaries, and shorelines, English artist Ed Fairburn attracts inspiration for his detailed cross-hatched portraits. As an avid map collector, he’s fascinated by the city panorama and cartographic design. “The extra maps I acquire, the extra I need to create,” he tells Colossal, sharing that transportation routes like roads and bridges will be likened to the veins or arteries of the physique.
Fairburn’s intricate drawings straight reply to the structure of the unique map. “I permit the composition of every map to tell the composition of every portrait,” he explains. An curiosity within the physique as metaphorical panorama and vice versa additionally informs how he approaches every bit. “In a wider sense, I hope that my work pushes viewers to consider these similarities, and maybe provides a reminder that we’re formed by the panorama round us, which we in flip are additionally shaping.”
You will discover extra of Fairburn’s work on his website, and comply with updates on Instagram, the place he usually shares movies of his course of.

“River Thames; Staines to Richmond”

“Singapore”

“Aberdeen Harbour”

“Paris II”

“Paris”

Element of “Plymouth”

Element of “River Thames; Staines to Richmond”
#drawing
#Ed Fairburn
#geography
#maps
#portraits
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