International artist reflects nature in Istanbul

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Grote’s art has its roots deep in her consciousness and in the mystical arts.

Banu Grote, a Turkish artist living in Switzerland and working internationally, reveals traces of daily life and its relationship with nature in her current exhibition, open through March 21 at Gallery Espas.

“My work focuses on reflections of daily life and nature,” said Grote. “It is very important for me to react to time and life, and depict those two notions.”

Grote’s works are like opening a space between reality and dreams. “I believe in the collective consciousness and I think each reality is equal to other realities.”

According to Grote, an artist’s inner world drives their artwork. “However, this inner world is not very different from one person to another,” Grote said.

Grote’s works remind the viewer of a piece of the forest or of nature. “Normally I use natural colors or the colors of soil, because I think the forms and tissues are better seen with this kind of palette,” she said, adding that audiences should discover their own inner world and aesthetic approach.

Grote’s art has its roots deep in her consciousness and in the mystical arts. Art has never been a superficial representation of reality for her. “Rather it is an expression of inner worlds. I find some symbolic forms, like holes and circles, and using different materials like sand, pieces of organic matter found in nature, wax, and fabric, I let my consciousness play in a spontaneous way. I believe an artist, by creating and with her artwork, can lead the viewer to mystical worlds that are not seen but known with inner knowledge,” Grote said.

“When I start working, I begin with a dialogue with the materials: They speak, they have a language of their own, and from this a dialogue develops between me and the materials. Then a kind of struggle begins between the idea that I am trying to express and the material form that I want to give it.”

“The development and the changes are dictated by the image itself. Hence my method of working becomes an inescapable dialogue between the original idea,
arising from everyday feelings, and the materials.”