Karen Yurkovich – Functionally Extinct
SEPTEMBER 6 - SEPTEMBER 30, 2018
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 6, from 6-9pm


These works continue an exploration of the natural world and the cultural landscape. They also reach into my personal artistic trajectory; reconsidering themes from different moments of my practice.

Functionally extinct is a term which means a species whose population is so reduced that it no longer plays a significant role in ecosystem function. In projects with the Beaty Biodiversity Museum and Archeologia Arborea, I’ve investigated plant species and how their relevance has shifted and, in some cases, become inconsequential, especially in relation to us. And I’ve tried to do this through art, and primarily painting; mediums which teeter on the edge of functional extinction.

This show constitutes a landscape or the creation of an eco-system, or at least my attempt to create one.

– Karen Yurkovich