Caroline Elliott

Artist Statement

I use painting and photography to explore the patterns which emerge through flux,  movement, repetition, change and chance. I am also interested in how these processes may relate to human experience and emotion. My paintings and photographs are related but separate areas of work underpinned by similar ideas.

Movement and change 
The philosophy of Heraclitus has been summarized as “everything is in a state of coming into being, and dissolving into nothingness. The only absolutes are strife, motion and change” . The idea that matter is constantly changing through destruction, disruption, rebuilding, renewal, accumulation and so on, and that every state is only temporary, and transience, is an important idea underpinning my work. My paintings are composed of many layers built up over time, each one changing the layers below, and my photographs often show restlessness, movement and flux.  
Chance
I welcome the role of chance, accidents and imperfection in my paintings and photographs. Generally they are not specifically planned or composed, but they evolve and happen in ways which I could not foresee. I am interested in the long tradition of artists using chance, and allowing imperfection in their work, including the 19th century blot paintings of Alexander Cozens, Fluxus, John Cage, automatic drawing, the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, and others. It is also interesting that accidents occur by chance in nature too, such as in the corruption of DNA.
Repetition
Repetition is fundamental to the natural world. We see repetition in our daily routines, life cycles, circadian rhythms, and so on. Repeated forms are found everywhere nature, such as cells, seeds, stones, leaves, molecules, or particles which occur billions of times over. Repetition is also found in the inner world of thoughts, memories, and ideas. These ideas underpin my interest in repeated forms in my paintings and photographs.
Methods of organization
Patterns and methods of organization are found throughout the natural world, including networks, clusters, meshes, swarms, colonies and societies into which humans, animals and plants form themselves. I am interested in finding patterns, and a sense of logic in places where a confusing mass or jumble of forms might at first make this seem impossible. By finding an underlying sense of organization meaning can emerge.