ARTIST STATEMENT

Art and science converge in cartography, but maps are more than just an abstract representation of the world on a flat surface. Maps can help us navigate, but they often conceal more than they reveal. My interest lies with West Coast maps from the early 1900s, in particular how they can merge with a painted plane.

My paintings are built from multiple layers of medium, pigment and collaged elements. Salvaged chart fragments carrying the imprint of their history are encapsulated in the surface of the paintings. The medium of encaustic serves as a counterpoint to the fragility and impermanence of these map fragments, yet compliments their historical element. Map symbols are repeated in the layers, some obscured, others revealed. Impressions echoing cartographic marks are pressed, incised and scraped into the luminous surface, much in the same way we leave our footprints on the landscape.

Maps use the necessary level of abstraction to convey selected information. My latest body of work explores this notion.
Moe Taylor