Last week I saw the exhibit “Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes” at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. I knew I was going to see Lin’s large-scale installations that interpret natural topography — one was the geological surfaces of a mountain range. But I didn’t expect smaller works, like altered books made from old Rand McNally atlases. She’s cut into the book’s pages to form a precise and detailed topographic view into the map (although it doesn’t appear that the result has anything to do with the map on the top-most page). The smaller works were a good balance to the large ones, although the installations cried out to be seen outdoors and from above as well as at ground level. The photo is a detail from one of the altered books, Atlas Landscape. There’s a nice overview of the exhibition with photos here.