New York-based artist Matthew Cusick creates elaborate collages depicting humans, animals, water and landforms crafted entirely from recycled maps. Cusick meticulously slices segments of antiquated maps from old encyclopedias, textbooks, roadmaps, and atlases and lays them down into familiar forms, taking advantage of the colorful shades map makers chose to represent the earth’s surface from oceans to rainforests to deserts.
Matthew Cusick was born in New York City in 1970 and graduated from The Cooper Union with a BFA in 1993. His work has been exhibited internationally since 1996, including New York City gallery shows at Andrew Kreps, Kent, and Pavel Zoubok. Cusick was the recipient of a NYFA painting fellowship in 2006 and The Bemis Center for Contemporary Art residency fellowship in 2008. He has been a visiting artist and lecturer at The Cooper Union and at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His work is held in numerous public and private collections including the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art and the Progressive Art Collection.
These are great. One map type I don't see being recycled into these collages are orienteering maps; it would be great to depict a forest (or some other sort of undulating terrain) using such detailed maps.
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