Stephen Walter's London, Feb 11 - March 2

Apparently, most urban planners' ability to write lots of words that mean absolutely nothing is trumped only by that of arts writers. That said, the exhibit does look interesting:

Exhibition dates: 11 February - 2 March 2008

TAG Fine Arts is delighted to present a solo exhibition titled, The Island: London Series, in conjunction with St Pancras Crypt, a perfect location for Walter’s seminal work The Island (2006-7), an intricate drawing mapping the city of London.

Aptly described by the London born and based artist Walter as, ‘a celebration of an unfolding drama based in reality, a place that we are all part of and can relate to‘, The Island (140 x 200 cm) took two years to complete and requires the use of a magnifying glass in central areas to decipher it.  From a distance, the original graphite drawing on paper looks like an old historical map; however, on closer inspection the piece focuses on local place name histories, the artist choosing to highlight etymologies spanning from pre-Christian times to the present day.

The map is geographically accurate and includes many of London’s main roads, railway lines, historical landmarks and green spaces. However, The Island has its own unique identity fashioned by the artist’s idiosyncratic semiotics, which are wittily juxtaposed with the familiar everyday signage used in maps and public spaces. This synthesis adumbrates Walter’s primary concern - the continually shifting cultural identity of the city; he finds ‘its constant energy to reinvent itself, building on top of what was before’, a source of enduring fascination.

The Island demonstrates how mapping the city is intricately tied to its historical legacy.  Whilst working on the project, Walter studied numerous historical documents, London travel literature and antique maps, including Peter Ackroyd’s biography of London, Ian Sinclair’s explorations into the embedded fault lines of the City, and Phyllis Pearsall’s A – Z of London.