Portraits On Maps by Ed Fairburn

 Ed Fairburn Drawn Weird Portaits on Maps

Ed Fairburn has created a series of images combining human features and maps. He uses additive and subtractive techniques, shading along contour lines. Ed Fairburn is an English artist based in Cardiff, Wales, UK (featured previously). The freelance illustrator graduated from the Cardiff School of Art and Design in 2012 and his work has appeared in exhibits, magazines and journals ever since.

The artist is best known for his map-based portraitures. Fairburn explains:

Painter, scribbler, maker and thinker Ed Fairburn has some very strange habits. As a bored 15-year-old, he glued a stamp on a slice of toast. He said, “Through my studies of the human form I examine the patterns and structures which exist across the body. I disassemble those structures and reconstruct them onto pre-patterned surfaces, including maps. The creative process involves synchronising both subject and surface. I search for similarities between the characteristics of the human figure and the topographical features of the map, resulting in a unique amalgamation.”

In the US, Fairburn is represented by the Mike Wright Gallery where you can find a number of originals and limited edition prints available for sale. Additional prints are also available through Not on the High Street.

To see the latest Artwork of  Ed, be sure to check out his website and Facebook page.