LandEscape Art Review // Special Issue | Page 124

Land scape
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Carol Elkovich

Lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area , California , USA
An artist ' s statement

W

hether Fibonacci spirals , scientific theories of disorganized complexity ,
or the architecture of habitat ’ s nature has long been a primary source for erudition in both art and science .
Recent maps charting social networks on the digital frontier take the visual quality of plant root structures , especially rhizomes . A rhizome is a stem of a plant that spreads by sending shoots to multiple points of self-replicating nodes . The interconnection of the rhizome negates hierarchy and represents a kind of democratic interconnectivity , very similar to the accessible and creative systems of living in a digital age . I find it interesting to see abstract processes mirroring physical designs seen in nature .
My work lets these ideas and symbols collide into evocative patterns that I see as a kind of geography of thought . Borrowing from maps of social networks , the invading patterns of virus behavior or the comportment of swarming insects , and simply the shapes of leaves and petals fallen to the ground — I am interested in disorganized complexity as a prominent overlay to the rational constructions of contemporary life . I strive for associations layered into a collective visual image that asks for contemplation of the structures shaping our knowledge , our relationships , or memories , and our physical experiences .
Carol Elkovich