Stefan Onowski

"Kartograf" - oil-based woodcut on paper, Edition 4, 106 x 78 cm
©2021 Stefan Osnowski

The British field surveyor Sir George Everest was largely responsible for surveying the meridian arc from the southernmost point of India north to Nepal, which took him almost 40 years. Even though he had nothing to do with the discovery and measurement of Mount Everest itself, the highest mountain in the Himalayas was named after him. Mapping becomes an external reality and archival device for objective knowledge and reality. „Maps are statements about the physical nature of the world, its shape and its limits. They display beliefs or concepts about the nature of the world and how it can be depicted.“ (Christian Jacob) The technique of carving in this woodcut correspond on one hand with the classical triangulation, which is still used in landmarking and map design. But it also correspond with the so called Perlin Noise, a type of gradient noise used in computer graphics. The so called „fractal landscape“ is a computer generated algorithm of surfaces that imitates the appearance of a natural terrain, which was first introduced by Benoit Mandelbrot in the late 70´s. KARTOGRAF and ANHÖHE are printed in black on high quality hand-scooped 230g Hahnemühle paper with deckle edges and water mark.

"Anhöhe / Hypsos" - oil-based woodcut on paper, Edition 4, 106 x 78 cm
©2021 Stefan Osnowski