Mark Moore Fine Art is very pleased to present an exclusive online exhibition of the recent "Map Series" works by British Artist Kim Rugg titled "Physical Graphitti" opening today and continuing through October 29th In her "Maps", Kim Rugg re-envisions the topography of various states, countries, continents, and even the world without borders, featuring a staggeringly precise hand-drawn layout with only city names and regions as reference points. In her own sense of abstracted cartography, Rugg redistributes traditional map colors (or eliminates them entirely) in order to nullify the social preeminence given to constructed territories, and highlight the idea that our attention is manipulated to focus on the powerful few instead of the physical many.

Through this visual ruse in the "Maps" Series of works, Rugg critiques the media's tendency to seduce its viewership through sensation and illusion rather than verisimilitude. A consistent theme throughout all of her work, patterns within the tactics of journalists, broadcasters, historians, and reporters alike are given clarity through Rugg's purposeful distortion. At first glance, Rugg's work appears disconnected from our regular lines of communication, but upon closer inspection, her visual subterfuge astutely mimics that of the everyday propagandist.

With these new "Map" pieces, Rugg looks to explore new territory (literally). As the artist states: "As with most of my work, I set off with a set of rules to follow then I see what happens. Here I left all the graphic elements of the landscape and lifted all the man made names. I started with the United States piece and I couldn't help feeling how crowded America was with all those names, especially as many of they are first names. Even with just the names the landscape does appear as the names of rivers are wavy, following the course of a river, and mountains are revealed as the lettering becomes less dense where the landscape is not habitable. Less inhabited and unsettled areas stand out as an emptiness, and so do the lakes. The arrangement of the words was like a careful ballet where for the sake of clarity of reading no word overlaps, but criss cross elegantly. Without the State - or Country -boundaries there is a great feeling of equality and unity and the relationship between countries, states, and towns are re-evaluated."

Rugg received her MFA in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art (London). Her work can be seen in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art (D.C.) and the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation (CA), the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (CA), and the Norton Museum (FL), among others. She has been included in exhibitions at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (CA), Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (NY), Galerie Schmidt Maczollek (Cologne), and Nettie Horn Gallery (Manchester), and was the recipient of the Thames and Hudson Prize from the Royal College of Art Society in 2004. She lives and works in London (UK).