A la carte: Paula Scher’s American maps chart more than just territory

By day, Paula Scher is a partner at the top New York design firm Pentagram, where she not only created the logo for Citibank, but also works on numerous projects for clients that include the Metropolitan Opera, Microsoft and Bloomberg. On the side, she has turned her aptitude for design into an artistic endeavour of a different sort. Scher uses her spare time to create paintings of maps. Not simply abstract works, but pieces full of information.
Scher first became interested in cartography at a young age, when her father first showed her full colour US Geological Survey aerial photography maps of areas like the Rocky Mountains. ‘I thought these maps were art,’ says Scher. ‘Later I began to play with the language of them.’
Her latest series is on display at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in New York until 26 March, in an exhibition titled ‘USA’. The large scale cartographic paintings – some measuring seven feet tall – double as complex infographics that explore a plethora of United-States-related topics.
In one corner of the gallery, a mural traces the winding curves that make up the US highway system in red and blue. Another presents the country's geography and climate, showing networks mountain ranges, rivers, and weather streams in a chaotic, colorful jumble on the map. Scher also created paintings depicting median home prices, driving times and mileage, as well as counties and zip codes.
To select a topic for a painting, Scher gravitated towards her interests. ‘I am obsessed by zip codes,’ she explains. ‘No one has yet given me a real definition of what constitutes one.’
The upcoming elections also played a role in the series. ‘I think about location and population and wealth against the way Americans think and make their choices, and that is especially resonant for me in this election year, when I am obsessed with politics,’ she says.
Though they might appear related, Scher looks at her art practice as a separate entity from her design work. ‘My paintings are paintings,' she says. ‘I accomplish them as a painter, not a designer.’
A partner at Pentagram, Scher first became interested in cartography at a young age, when her father first showed her full colour US Geological Survey aerial photography maps of areas like the Rocky Mountains. Pictured: US Demographics and Economy, 2015
The cartographic paintings are large — some reaching seven feet tall. Pictured: USA Airline Routes, 2014
‘I think about location and population and wealth against the way Americans think and make their choices, and that is especially resonant for me in this election year when I am obsessed with politics,’ says Scher. Pictured: USA Median Home Prices, 2016
‘I am obsessed by zip codes,’ she adds. ‘No one has yet given me a real definition of what constitutes one.’ Pictured: USA Counties and Zip Codes, 2015
Scher also created paintings depicting median home prices, driving times and mileage. Pictured: Driving Times and Mileage USA, 2014
Pictured: USA Interstate, 2015 – a mural that traces the winding curves of the US highway system in red and blue
INFORMATION
'Paula Scher: USA' is on view until 26 March. For more details, visit the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery's website
ADDRESS
Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery
505 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10001
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Ann Binlot is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer who covers art, fashion, design, architecture, food, and travel for publications like Wallpaper*, the Wall Street Journal, and Monocle. She is also editor-at-large at Document Journal and Family Style magazines.
-
How to be butch: Clark Henley’s sharp, satirical and playful manual is back in print
The 1982 classic, ‘The Butch Manual: The Current Drag and How to Do It’, full of tongue-in-cheek advice, is available once again
-
Aston Martin goes goth, ramping up power, poise and dark glamour with the new Vantage S
These moody images mark the debut of the latest model out of Gaydon, the dynamically focused Aston Martin Vantage S
-
After decades capturing the world’s fashion-set, photographer Johnny Rozsa picks up a paint brush
In his first exhibition of paintings, the New York-based artist celebrates the vibrancy of Tangier while rediscovering a familiar creative outlet
-
After decades capturing the world’s fashion-set, photographer Johnny Rozsa picks up a paint brush
In his first exhibition of paintings, the New York-based artist celebrates the vibrancy of Tangier while rediscovering a familiar creative outlet
-
Leila Bartell’s cloudscapes are breezily distorted, a response to an evermore digital world
‘Memory Fields’ is the London-based artist’s solo exhibition at Tristan Hoare Gallery (until 25 July 2025)
-
‘Her pictures looked like pictures everybody knew were the truth’: Diane Arbus at the Armory
Matthieu Humery curates more than 400 of Arbus’ photographs at New York’s Park Avenue Armory – every picture she was known to have printed
-
Marlene Dumas’ charged, exposed and intimate figures gather in Athens
The artist’s work from 1992 until the present day goes on show at Athens’ Museum of Cycladic Art (until 2 November)
-
Mystic, feminine and erotic: the power of Penny Slinger’s bodies as landscape
Artist Penny Slinger continues her exploration of the sacred, surreal feminine in a Santa Monica exhibition, ‘Meeting at the Horizon’
-
Get lost in Megan Rooney’s abstract, emotional paintings
The artist finds worlds in yellow and blue at Thaddaeus Ropac London
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
It was a jam-packed week for the Wallpaper* staff, entailing furniture, tech and music launches and lots of good food – from afternoon tea to omakase
-
Kaari Upson’s unsettling, grotesque and seductive world in Denmark
The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark is staging the first comprehensive survey of late artist Kaari Upson’s work