'Rooms' open doors of perception
Hatice Utkan Özden
This January, The Marmara Pera’s exhibition venue hosts a new exhibition titled “Room” which gathers works of three young artists, Candan İşcan, Ekin Su Koç and Mert Özgen. Three artists are gathered not by coincidence but with the support of the Sade Kolektif, a quartet that supports artists and create art projects both locally and globally.
The works of artists combine within one concept titled “room.” When asked what room symbolizes for them, İşcan said, it is kind of a space for her inner thoughts and unconsciousness, which she reflects onto her drawings. İşcan’s works usually tell the story of her visual interest to medical illustrations and anatomy books. “Since I was a small girl, I was always into these books as all my family consists of medical doctors. That’s why these illustrations have affected me a lot.”
However, that’s not the only thing that we see in İşcan’s works. She loves to use images of forest in her drawing. Why she prefers forests she cannot tell but she makes the viewer sure that she reflects the forest in her imagination so purely and detailed, that her approach to the nature is not a common, but peculiar one.
The same approach towards the nature can be seen in Koç’s works. This time the artist shows the viewers how she uses the nature on her canvases. Koç uses nature as a comment on past lives and history. For her, nature is something that we miss in our daily lives. Koç’s paintings remind us how we ‘make’ the nature and everything around us. “Not only nature and our relation to it but also historical approach of society is important for my works,” she said and added in different exhibitions she uses different concepts related to the society. “Sometimes I use old family photos that I have collected from flea markets and sometimes I use old fabrics. Bu I always try to reflect a problem in the society, such as diseases, historical happenings and so on. “
When the notion of problem has come to afore in the art works, Özgen’s works, which show the viewers the women with scars, open a new dimension in terms of the concept of the show.
Özgen’s women, inspired from the literary and artistic heroines of history such as Virginia Woolf, Camille Claudel are a part of his life. “I read and listen to stories and these stories make the portrait of women. I have never tried to draw them perfectly but on the other hand, I would like to show they are not perfect as they seem. These women they have scars, cause they have a life behind them and pain,” he said.
When combined all of them in one exhibition, the concept become a metaphor that signifies artists’ works, according to the Sade Kolektif.
One of the partners of the collaboration, Duygu Yıldız said: “What we are trying to do is to open a new dimension for the concept of room and define it again by using art.”
Yıldız also added as Sade Kolektif they are trying open new space for art creation. “We are here to support artists by new and innovative projects. We would like to combine brands and artists, like we did in this exhibition- gathering The Marmara Pera’s Art in Pera Project and also art- on the other hand, our aim is to open new dimension for art creation in Turkey and carry this approach to global art world.”
The exhibition opened on Jan 6 and will continue until Feb. 5.
When combined all of them in one exhibition, the concept become a metaphor that signifies artists’ works, according to the Sade Kolektif.
One of the partners of the collaboration, Duygu Yıldız said: “What we are trying to do is to open a new dimension for the concept of room and define it again by using art.”
Yıldız also added as Sade Kolektif they are trying open new space for art creation. “We are here to support artists by new and innovative projects. We would like to combine brands and artists, like we did in this exhibition- gathering The Marmara Pera’s Art in Pera Project and also art- on the other hand, our aim is to open new dimension for art creation in Turkey and carry this approach to global art world.”
The exhibition opened on Jan 6 and will continue until Feb. 5.
