Food & Drink

The Absurdity of Seattle’s Most Maddening Intersections in One Brilliant Piece of Viral Art

Our frustrating intersections are actually quite beautiful.

By Michael Rietmulder August 31, 2017

sea-intersections-crop

[addtoany]

Whether you’re a native or recent transplant, at some point you’ve likely pulled up to a Seattle intersection and wondered if the city’s earliest engineers are trolling us from the grave.

Sure, our hilly terrain and abundant waterways present unique challenges. But why must some intersections look like a “jacked up” yoga pose called the “downward facing arachnid,” as a couple Twitter jokers put it?

Fortunately, a local man’s art might help us laugh off the dashboard-pounding rage we feel whenever Siri tells us to go “straight” at an intersection shaped like a Chinese character.

Since at least 2015, Seattle-based artist Peter Gorman has found beauty in maps, turning them into cool regionally focused prints he peddles through his Etsy shop, BarelyMaps. This week one of his prints lit up social media after Gorman posted it on Reddit.

As befuddling as they may be, Gorman shows how cool our pretzeling roadways look from above. His print highlights 20 of Seattle’s most twisted, splintering intersections, from the Denny-Stewart-Yale tie-up to the crisscrossing Rainier Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. (Check out a zoomed in version at BarelyMaps’ Etsy page.)

With a little imagination, Gorman’s print is a modern Seattle Rorschach test. Maybe you see the Chelan-Delridge-Spokane-Marginal Way layout as a pterodactyl sea turtle, cloud swimming above South Lake Union’s cranes. Or perhaps the Queen Anne Drive-Raye Street/4th Avenue exchange is the logo of Capitol Hill’s next failed sustainable microplate restaurant, Fork & Twig.

Or maybe you just like staring at neat squiggly lines.

Either way, peep Gorman’s Etsy shop and if you like what you see, toss him a few bucks for a print.

 

Follow Us

Seattle Podcast: Spencer Frazer: Second Act Artist Changing the World

Seattle Podcast: Spencer Frazer: Second Act Artist Changing the World

[addtoany]

Dynamic And Engaging: The Call Of Calder

Dynamic And Engaging: The Call Of Calder

As a teenager, former Microsoft executive Jon Shirley fell in love with the works of Alexander Calder. He’s now sharing his passion with the public.

For me, moving around The Eagle, taking it in outside of traditional gallery walls and interacting with it, choosing how I saw the work, was a totally new way to experience art...

The Art in This Leschi Backyard is Literally Immersive

The Art in This Leschi Backyard is Literally Immersive

One local collector’s transformed yard features a new swimming pool with a custom installation

When architect Ian Butcher signed on to design an outdoor space for a local philanthropist and art collector, it turned out to be a double dose of revisiting the past...

Longtime Seattle Artist Mary Ann Peters Opens Show at the Frye 

Longtime Seattle Artist Mary Ann Peters Opens Show at the Frye 

Peters’ first solo museum show is a testament to her decades-long career

After more than 30 years of active involvement in Seattle’s art scene, Mary Ann Peters finally has her first solo museum show...