Exhibition
Stephen Walter: Nova Utopia
13 Apr 2016 – 30 Apr 2016
Regular hours
- Wednesday
- 09:30 – 18:00
- Thursday
- 09:30 – 18:00
- Friday
- 09:30 – 18:00
- Saturday
- 11:00 – 17:00
- Monday
- 09:30 – 18:00
- Tuesday
- 09:30 – 18:00
Cost of entry
Free
Address
- 32 St. George Street
- London
- W1S 2EA
- United Kingdom
Shapero Modern is delighted to present a new print by the acclaimed British artist Stephen Walter.
About
Entitled Nova Utopia, the artwork is inspired by Thomas More’s philosophical novel Utopia, and a map of the world he imagined drawn by Abraham Ortelius. More’s book, which was published 500 years ago in 1516, depicts a complex, self-contained world set on an island in which communities share a common culture and way of life. Walter’s map updates this to the 21st century, showing a world of mass tourism, package holidays, retirement homes, luxury resorts, banking districts and cultural hotspots.
Nova Utopia is presented inside a ‘Hagioscope Frame’, with a movable magnifying glass lens, so rather than Utopia being a place for everybody, only one person may view a detail of the map at a time, creating a very personal, local experience that becomes a kind of metaphor for how utopias may be seen today.
Says Walter: ‘This map is essentially a collection of a number of utopian and dystopian manifestations, some that I yearn for, and also some of the things that I wish didn’t exist.’