Discerning Cyclist catches up with Strava artist Gary Cordery, the creator of the famous Berlin Wall Strava artwork, to learn more about cycling GPS art.
“Strava Art is the art of planning and drawing an image on a map by recording your activity on a GPS unit and then uploading that activity to Strava,” explained Gary.
“It can be made by doing any physical exercise from walking to ice-biking. An aircraft even did some the other day! I think people create Strava Art to add another dimension to their exercises by combining art with exercise to incentivise their training and to create messages – strav.art has been inundated with Covid/NHS art lately!
“I think the combination of being a cyclist, map-maker and graphic designer naturally drew me towards Strava Art. I’d seen some art pop up on Strava in the past and thought I could create an online gallery to house all these works. Little did I know how much art there was actually out there and how much it has exploded this year! But it’s a great little hobby to have and I always find an hour in the day to update the site.”
This “little hobby” though is starting to become quite a big deal. In October, Gary created one of the most famous pieces of Strava art ever, after adapting the work of Russian painter, Dmitri Vrubel, to recreate the “Bruderkuss” to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.