Reflection: Stephen Walter is a contemporary artist who works a lot with drawing and mapping.  He works I such detail that the viewer needs to use a magnifying glass to experience parts of his art work.  Look at Walter’s work, read his comments and reflect on them in your log.  What does such a fine level of detail lend to the image?

Stephen Walter’s biography on his website states ‘Stephen Walter’s work is an investigation into obsessive drawing techniques, semiotics, the glory of maps, and where Landscape is seen a receptacle for meaning. Each work is an intricate world in itself. The maps are a tangle of words, symbols and drawn elements where cultural residues inhabit certain locations‘.

When I first looked at the level of detail in Walter’s drawings, particularly in his maps,

I was a bit over whelmed and thought ‘do I really want to read all that?’ Curiosity drew me in and the whole thing really grabbed my attention.  It is packed full of information, often amusing, such as a place called ‘Eyesore’ in Nova Utopia, 2013.  The scale is sometimes large, particularly the maps, for example the print Nova Utopia, 2013 is 133.5 x 171.5 cm.  The large size of the map contrasts with the tiny intricate pieces of information it contains.  The viewer has to get up close to the print to absorb all the information and it is worth the effort as they view Paranoia HQ and Middle age water colourists. I found it to be very funny and clever and wanted to read everything, and despite the size, I really enjoyed it.

Reference

http://stephenwalter.co.uk/