lu xinjian: city DNA paintings

lu xinjian: city DNA paintings‘moscow’ (2010), part of lu xinjian’s ‘city DNA’ painting series acrylic on canvas 120x150cm

in his ‘city DNA‘ series, chinese painter lu xinjian abstracts the forms of cities based on aerial views from google earth. xinjian first sketches a design while looking at the map, next turning these patterns into stencils using adobe illustrator and a cutting plotter before painting them with acrylic on canvas. while the colors and chaotic lines at first glance seem purely graphical, perhaps even reminiscent of keith haring’s work, the designs actually represent what in architecture is termed ‘city DNA’: the structure and form, whether planned or happenstance, of an urban settlement. the colors of each piece are chosen based on the official city and national flags.

see more on lu xinjian’s site

‘stockholm’ (2010) acrylic on canvas 200x120cm

‘the triumph of new york’ (2010) acrylic on canvas 120x150cm

‘munich’ (2011) acrylic on canvas 140x220cm

‘hong kong’ (2010) acrylic on canvas 200x110cm

‘shanghai’ (2011) acrylic on canvas 200x400cm

‘los angeles’ (2010) acrylic on canvas 200x400cm

‘port of LA’ (2011) acrylic on canvas 200x300cm

from left to right, top row: london, fribourg, madrid, paris bottom row: groningen, las vegas, new delhi, kyoto

installation view of ‘london’ (2010) acrylic on canvas 115x170cm

via the creator’s project