Ed Fairburn

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Art History

Urban Landscapes Merge with Intricately Rendered Figures in Ed Fairburn’s Portraits on Vintage Maps

Along the contours of roads, property boundaries, and shorelines, English artist Ed Fairburn draws inspiration for his detailed cross-hatched portraits. As an avid map collector, he is fascinated by the urban landscape and cartographic design. “The more maps I collect, the more I want to create,” he tells Colossal, sharing that transportation routes like roads and bridges can be likened to the veins or arteries of the body.

Fairburn’s intricate drawings directly respond to the layout of the original map. “I allow the composition of each map to inform the composition of each portrait,” he explains. An interest in the body as metaphorical landscape and vice versa also informs how he approaches each piece. “In a wider sense, I hope that my work pushes viewers to think about those similarities, and perhaps offers a reminder that we’re shaped by the landscape around us, which we in turn are also shaping.”

You can find more of Fairburn’s work on his website, and follow updates on Instagram, where he often shares videos of his process.

 

Art

New Portraits Drawn on Maps and Star Charts by Ed Fairburn

English artist Ed Fairburn (previously) uses vintage road maps and star charts as canvases for drawn portraits. Cross-hatched patterns and shaded regions inside roads, borders, and rivers assimilate into the contours of faces as if the images had always been secretly hidden in the map’s topography. “In his hands, both built infrastructure and natural phenomena echo the organic human form,” shares Mike Wright Gallery. “National highway systems become capillaries, and the tangle of Paris’ alleyways become the wrinkles that give the face history and individuality.”

Fairburn opens a new show of work alongside artist John Wentz today at Mike Wright in Denver.

 

Art

Elaborate New Portraits Drawn on Vintage Maps by Ed Fairburn

Using a wide variety of canvases including railroad blueprints, star charts, geological and street maps, Welsh artist Ed Fairburn (previously here and here) uses additive and subtractive techniques to create portraits that seem pefectly integrated with the topography of streets, mountains and rivers. It’s been almost a year since we last checked in with Fairburn whose process and approach to creating these stunning portraits continues to evolve. One of his most striking methods is to carefully follow map contours with a pen creating rows of lines that vary by width to create individual forms and shadows. The final portraits are so entwined with the map, it becomes hard to imagine one existing without the other.

You can see Fairburn’s work for yourself at Mike Wright Gallery in Denver, Colorado and he also has prints available here.

Art

New Map and Celestial Star Chart Portraits by Ed Fairburn

New work today from Ed Fairburn (previously) who draws ink and graphite portraits on vintage maps and now celestial star charts. A few of his works are now available as fine art prints over at Not on the High Street.

Art Illustration

Portraits Drawn on Maps by Ed Fairburn

Artist Ed Fairburn utilizes the chaotic patchwork of roads, trains, and rivers printed on maps as the framework for his large-scale portraits. Almost like a sculptor carving a subject from a block of stone, or a constellation highlighted in a clump of stars, Fairburn uses meticulous ink or pencil cross hatching to create portraits hidden amongst the topographical features. You can see much more of his work over on Facebook. (via artchipel)