Paula Scher MAPS: Data isn't Neutral PRESS RELEASE | Sims Reed Gallery | October 2022

PRESS RELEASE

Paula Scher MAPS Data isn't Neutral

7th - 20th October 2022

Paula Scher, World Trade Routes, Screenprint in colours, 2018. Signed in pencil, numbered from the edition of 150.

Printed by Alexander Heinrici, New York. Published by Art Novel, Vancouver. 89.5 x 152.4 cm

Sims Reed Gallery is thrilled to present the works of renowned graphic designer and contemporary artist Paula Scher. Following on from several hugely successful exhibitions in the USA, this is Scher's first solo presentation in the UK. The exhibition presents Scher's iconic series of silk-screen maps published by Art Novel as well as earlier maps that illustrate the artist's ongoing obsession with mapping data across the globe.

Humming with colour and information, Paula Scher's typographic maps delight, challenge and stimulate the viewer. She creates intricate, yet bold visions of an interconnected world that question our reality and ability to process data. The prints span cities (London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Rome), whole countries (China, USA, India) and the globe (World Trade Routes).

The thick layers of ink render mind-bending patterns saturated with names, distances, postcodes; seemingly accurate, but ultimately steeped in subjectivity.

Scher's fixation with mapping and data goes back to the 1950's when her father, Marvin Scher, worked as a civil engineer for the U.S. Geological Survey. Troubled by the inaccuracy in aerial photography, he invented a measuring device that made camera lenses capable of correcting distortions that occur when aerial photography is enlarged. Fuelled by this early interest, and also as a reaction to the complete digitization of her graphic design work, Scher has been making these painstaking portraits of contemporary information in paint and in print for over twenty years.

Expressive in their execution, yet with one foot firmly in the realm of the infographic, Scher's distorted and impressionistic depictions of maps are a feast for the eyes and the mind.

With thanks to Suzy Sabla of Art Novel and Jim Kempner Fine Art.

Paula Scher is one of the most acclaimed graphic designers in the world. She has been a principal in the New York office of the distinguished international design consultancy Pentagram since 1991, where she has designed identity and branding systems, environmental graphics, packaging and publications for a wide range of clients that includes, among others, Citibank, Microsoft, Bloomberg, Shake Shack, the Museum of Modern Art, Tiffany & Co, the High Line, the Public Theater, the Metropolitan Opera, the Sundance Institute and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her work is represented in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York; the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich; the Denver Art Museum; and the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. She is the author of “Make It Bigger” (Princeton Architectural Press, 2002) “MAPS” (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011) and “Works” (Unit Editions, 2017). Scher holds a BFA from the Tyler School of Art and a Doctor of Fine Arts Honoris Causa from the Corcoran College of Art and Design, the Maryland Institute College of Art and Moore College of Art and Design. A documentary on her and her work can be seen in the 2017 Netflix series Abstract: The Art of Design.

Sims Reed Gallery is located alongside Sims Reed Books, in the heart of London’s St. James’s. The gallery specialises in modern, post-war and contemporary original prints and works on paper. Founded in 1995, the gallery has since grown to hold an extensive inventory of works by leading artists of the 20th century alongside major contemporary artists and has led successful exhibitions of some of the most innovative modern, postwar and contemporary printmakers. It is a member of the Society of London Dealers (SLAD) and International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA).

Paula Scher, Rome, Screenprint in colours, 2018. Signed in pencil, numbered from the edition of 150. Printed by Alexander Heinrici, New York. Published by Art Novel, Vancouver. 99 x 127 cm.

For more information or media enquiries: Anya Kashina gallery@simsreed.com

Sims Reed Gallery, 43A Duke Street, St. James’s, London, SW1Y 6DD W: www.gallery.simsreed.com E: gallery@simsreed.com T: +44 (0)207 930 5111 Instagram: @simsreed_gallery