Satellite Art

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It’s no secret that it’s way too easy to waste time on a computer under the guise of “relaxing.” Hmmm, I’ll just take a quick break and check my email…oh yeah, I wonder if there are any new posts on my favorite blog…yep!…and links, too…it wouldn’t hurt to see if that stuff I’ve been thinking about buying is on sale… Before you know it dinner is on fire, the kids have dismantled the piano, and it’s dark outside. Do you feel refreshed? No!

But here’s one way of spending some quality digital time that I find to be both relaxing and invigorating: fly around Google Earth at several thousand feet and let your breath be taken away by the stunning abstract beauty of the Earth’s surface. You’ve probably noticed when flying around in an actual airplane that it’s astounding to look down and see the stark geometry of crop formations, the brave sweep of coastlines, the patient paths of water. Cruising Google Earth is like that, but you’re allowed to take a bottle of water with you and there’s more legroom.

Here’s a guy that found a bunch of “charts” in the landscape. And here’s a German source of extremely high-quality satellite imagery, with two books called Untouched Nature, and Human Fooprint.

When it came time to choose some artwork for our new office, I thought it would be fun to curate some space shots of our own. The hardest part, of course, was choosing among so many exquisite views, but eventually we found three that worked well together.

Ady Leverette was a designer and a principal at Fat Pencil Studio between 2011 and 2018.