Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Mondrian

Simon Bond did this brilliant map-related parody of the famous (infamous?) modern artist Piet Mondrian. You may be familiar with his work without being familiar with his name:
Composition 10
It's one of those iconic styles that often comes up when people are commenting on the simplicity, or over-simplicity, of modern art. While I'm not a fan of this guy's work, it's obvious that some of it can be very map-like. Take his work "Broadway Boogie Woogie":
Broadway Boogie Woogie



Of course that work looks awfully like his "Victory Boogie Woogie" so maybe it's not so map-like after all... assuming "Victory Boogie Woogie" isn't supposed to invoke the aesthetic of maps.
Victory Boogie Woogie



2 comments:

  1. Maybe someone here can help me with this... in the 1970's, I was watching a PBS article (report, special?) on either Mondrian exclusively, or Mondrian was featured in this report. They took one of Mondrian's paintings that he had created once he arrived in the NYC area, and kind of "slid" the painting over a NYC subway map. The black lines and color blocks on the painting lined up remarkably well with the locatins of parks, subway entrances, locations of interest. It was concluded, I believe rightfully, that Mondrian was actually using a map of NYC/Manhattan as his "inspiration". Anyone know anything of this?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mondrian's "Broadway Boogie Woogie" at least does appear to be inspired by New York street maps. But I'm not sure about inspiration from subways.

      Delete