Stephen Walter is an artist who works a lot with the drawings of maps. These are not just drawings however, but each one tells a story. They are filled with detail, almost chaotic, with much accuracy. One of his works is an incredibly detailed map of London stuffed with not only landmarks and streets, but with tidbits of history, city life, as well as random facts. It is truly a work of art and imagination, with attention to scale as well. Looking at the entire map, it genuinely looks like it is a real one. 
Artist Entry: Louisa Bufardeci
Louisa Bufardeci is an Australian artist who is an undergraduate alumnus of the University of Melbourne and a graduate alumnus of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I find her to be quite intriguing as an artist; her work mainly focuses on globalization with some politics as well. She uses unique ways in juxtaposing what is usually some form of map picture. I like her work, “Ground Plan” (2003) the most because it cleverly generalizes each country as a room within a floor plan. This blends the concept of country borders with the enclosures of a wall. 
Artist Entry: Ai WeiWei
Not just an artist but a political activist as well, Ai Weiwei is a very unique individual who stands apart from the rest of his peers. He is the son of a Chinese poet who was denounced during the Anti-Rightist Movement, likely a catalyst for his activism, especially in Chinese government. Ai enrolled in the Beijing Film Academy, but moved to the US in 1981, where he mostly worked on conceptual art and sculptures. As an artist as well as an immigrant, Ai has encapsulated the essence of freedom, where he uses it to drive his political stance on human rights and democracy. His work is an aggregation of already-made objects, sculpted with a large attention to the “whole picture”.
Artist Entry: Doug Beube
Doug Beube is a very “out there” artist. He bases his work on what he calls a codex. He explains: “The codex, which literally means a block of wood in Latin, is undeviating in its essential form; its fixity is antithetical to the capabilities of the computer to function on a synergetic and simultaneous plane.” In an attempt to add depth to the information limits of books, he uses various media and collaging to add details to his amazing sculptures. Using cutting and pasting techniques, he adds hidden text to his codex work. He very interestingly points out the flaw of the interaction with books: that there is no complexity in it, that it can only be read from beginning to end. I believe that his work is about trying to break free of these boundaries as much as possible.
Artist Entry: Vik Muniz
Vik Muniz is an artist born in Sao Paulo, Brazil who currently resides in NYC. What is so interesting about his work is that they are actually recreations of famous art. He uses materials other than paint and takes photographs of them afterwards. When I write “materials”, I mean that they can literally be anything that you can fathom. This can range from using cotton all the way to spaghetti and pasta sauce. He chooses materials very interestingly in order to emphasize texture and more importantly, the referenced artwork.
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