#Inspiration
SCIENCE MEETS ART: KAREN MARGOLIS
A New York artist with a scientific approach
New York artist Karen Margolis has a profound fascination with the inner workings of the mind. Her art, through a beautiful and almost obsessive repetition of circles, is actually a calculated expression of human psychology. Circles of shadow, color and absence map out the thoughts and feelings flying through our gray matter.
Drawing upon her background in psychology, Margolis approaches art with a scientific method. Her series titled ‘Integrations‘ creates an artistic analysis of scientific data. She developed a flow chart of colors, assigning a Pantone reproducible color to each emotion before translating the data into blooming patterns on paper. The circular explosions poetically represent the orchestra of chemicals and neurotransmitters that populate our brain.
Maps also play a central role in Margolis’ work. Much like our own being, maps become old and outdated, rendering them useless. The artist renews them using a modern interpretation of the ancient practice of trephination, which involves boring circular holes in the skull to cure physical and mental ailments. Suddenly, a disused object is given new potential.
A chaotic harmony permeates each piece, the frenetic circles creating visual movement and an aesthetic symmetry that flirts with imbalance – similar to our own brain chemistry.
The artist will be participating in the ‘Double Blind‘ exhibit at the Garis & Hahn Gallery in New York from April 4th until May 3rd.
