I have a secret to tell about holiday weekends in Los Angeles – they’re when the city’s labyrinth of highways and freeways are empty and you can whip around town without any hassles. It’s magical. If I play the right music in my car I imagine I’m driving George Jetson’s aerocar through Orbit City.

Pablo Jones "Interchange" zatista.com

Evidently, I’m not the only one fascinated with the urban landscape. The subject matter seems to appeal to many artists, though each artist below has a unique reason for exploring the imagery:

Wayne Thiebaud’s work makes me smile. As Christie’s notes in a recent auction catalog, “His interest [in California’s car culture] spread to the arteries of winding highways whose patterns could be observed from an aerial perspective, which form elaborate arabesques in many of his works.” No matter what the subject, Thiebaud’s images always seem to be filled with the pulse of life.

Wayne Thiebaud "Freeway Curve" paulthiebaudgallery.com

Photographer Hans-Christian Schink documents how, after reunification, the German government spent a lot of money updating the decrepit autobahn and train system. Schink creates a powerful series that unmasks the empty promises behind that whole idea with images both eerie and romantic.

Hans-Christian Schink acegallery.com

Photographer Edward Burtynsky sees nature transformed through industry as a predominant theme in his work. Burtynsky says, “These images are meant as metaphors to the dilemma of our modern existence; they search for a dialogue between attraction and repulsion, seduction and fear. These images function as reflecting pools of our times.”

Edward Burtynsky "Highway #1" ericphlegergallery.com

Edward Burtynsky "Nanpu Bridge Interchange, Shanghai, China 2004" hastedhunt.com

Zatista’s own Sam Faix is a Philadelphia native currently residing in Abu Dhabi. His bio reads, “In recent years Faix has begun to incorporate more overt ideas of transportation and speed into his work, as the plan of a city grid or the graceful, sweeping curve of a freeway on-ramp each provide new narratives. Constantly looking for visual ways to resolve movement and stillness between places and people, his paintings and mixed-media pieces are infused with memories of the past and ideas of the future.

Sam Faix "Transfer Series No. 70" zatista.com

Sam Faix "Transfer Series No. 68" zatista.com

How do you relate to your urban landscape? Is it a love/hate relationship? Or can you find it in your heart to see it as art? wink, wink