Finding the hidden digital world behind photographs.
Born in Italy, architect, designer and artist Elda Bellone is currently based in Brooklyn, NYC. From an early age, her creative pursuits defied categorization. Blurring the line between art languages, Elda Bellone’s work occupies an area of “open design” that views function and form through an innovative point of view. Multi-functional objects, architectural details incorporated in product design, a blend of analogue and digital techniques. Different creative languages and fresh perspectives that come together to challenge and enhance the idea of conventional design. With Encoded Icons, Elda Bellone opens another chapter in the larger series of Byte Patterns, exploring the depths of the original concept further.
Similarly to the Urbanpaste series, Encoded Icons uses images to challenge the viewers’ perception. If the former works bring a surreal feel to urban landscapes, the latter seeks to discover a deeper layer of insight in two-dimensional images. While using reprogrammed bitmaps to create binary images, the artist reveals the usually hidden data behind the surface. A subconscious context that also leads to the essence of the original photographs. The conversion process involves the formulation of new data in an alphabet of pixel-wide lines.
By using photos of iconic figures, Elda Bellone enables an instant connection between the viewer and the artworks. At the same time, the juxtaposition of the familiar and unfamiliar aims to establish a link between visible layers and hidden content. To present the duality of simple facades and the complex data behind them. Elda Bellone’s award-winning work has been exhibited worldwide, including at the Venice Biennale. Photographs© Elda Bellone.
