Michael Landy, All my lines in the palm of your hand, was the 14th Pocket Tube Map design to be commissioned by Art on the Underground.
The work is a tracing of the artist’s own hand in pencil; the creases and lines of the hand are represented by lines drawn in the various colours of the Tube map. In this way, Landy makes a direct relationship between ‘the artist’s hand’ and the Pocket Tube Map. We can read his palm and see how his personal journeys have left their mark there. Reproduced as a pocket artwork for millions of Tube travellers to hold in the palm of their own hands, the work has a humorous yet uncanny quality.
Head of Art on the Underground, Tamsin Dillon, said: “I like the way that Landy brings us back to the physical workings of the Tube Map. His reference to the way that people write on their hands as an aid memoire is very much in contrast to current handheld technology – like GPS and Google Maps. The Pocket Tube Map is a traditional, ‘hands-on’ guide, which is still a great way to get around the London Underground system.”
