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Zamana ve gökyüzüne yayılan bir bakış
Yazı: Ela Atakan Burhanoğlu
Selim Birsel'in Öktem Aykut'taki ilk sergisi olma özelliğini taşıyan Yalıtılmış Bir Bakış 14 Mart'a devam ediyor. Birsel'in çoğunlukla 2019 ve 2017 yıllarında ürettiği eserlerle birlikte 1995 yılında düzenlenen 4. İstanbul Bienali'nde sanatçının gösterdiği bir yerleştirmenin yeniden yorumlanışıyla 2006 yılından bir resim serisini de sunan sergiyi değerlendirdik
full text:
www.unlimitedrag.com/post/zamana-ve-gökyüzüne-yayılan-bir-bakış
Miracle of seeing: Looking forward with art of Selim Birsel
by Matt Hanson
Istanbul Reviews
Feb 24, 2020 2:39 PM GMT+3
For his first solo show at Öktem Aykut, a small gallery down an alley in the historic environs of Istanbul's Şişhane neighborhood, professor and artist Selim Birsel presents 'An Isolated Gaze,' based mainly on new artworks since 2017
Blue paper covers three glass doors. Inside, the walls are textured with a rough concrete finish. Place a hand on them, and the will to be elsewhere disappears. And no one will see, because the interior is a world within a world. Bent and obscure, the streets outside are a pastiche of unspeakable silences, wayward possibilities and undrawn maps. The bright lights above beam, shock and blanket artwork in the miracle of seeing. And that is what the artist intends to inspire in his faithful seers.
To look is more passive than to gaze. The latter implies a concentrated, meditative staring tantamount to hypnosis, an altered state of mind, induced by the innate, human power to merge the mind with the eye. The illuminations of consciousness await. All that is asked is to open that involuntary mask of lids that keep a person from tripping. But to step into the space of Öktem Aykut is to enter into a realm where the subtle, genuine air of creativity is intact and flowing in circles of a consolidated momentum led by the young pair of gallerists.
Selim Birsel is a welcome addition to the exhaustive history of artworks exhibited at Öktem Aykut, mounting hundreds of shows in their former space around the corner in the eyeshot of the cobblestoned shadow of Galata Tower. Now, down a flight of stairs across the street from alternative galleries under Adahan Hotel and at the Kıraathane Istanbul Literature House, Öktem Aykut has preserved its distinctive place, as a conceptual sphere whose core is untouched, while its surfaces mingle liberally with the greater milieu of the Turkish art world.
“Passive Defence” (2020) is an installation concept piece that bears something of the trickster role of the contemporary artist, a stripe of behavior well applied by Ayşe Erkmen for “Whitish,” her solo retrospective at Arter. But as Birsel wisely considers, sight is also a function of its opposite. The pitch darkness of the cinema is what stirs the scintillant flow of its projected, celluloid magic. In like spirit, the show, “An Isolated Gaze” at Öktem Aykut offers a telescopic entrance to a night sky of such broad perspectives on the visible of creation.
Sight-specific site
Jumping off from a composition of ink on paper conceived in 2017, titled, “States of Planet I,” Birsel adapted his circular focus into a sequel, and a new vision, “Tank Lilium” (2019) after similar color schemes and explorations of form. With resemblances to a hydra-headed incarnation of that self-reproductive being known to Greek mythology, Birsel’s ink painting expands the notion to a modern military subject, however abstracted and transformed into the image of a flower, or more exactly a lily.
But with an industrial twist, the Lilium has become a buzzword for an electric-powered commercial air taxi invented by a German startup. And with Birsel’s ecological futurism at hand, the simple image of a post-impressionistic flower gains ground in the field of science fiction, in which technological empowerment, independent of the prevailing infrastructure, has unseen, more nefarious consequences than ever imagined. Yet, for all of its context, there is beauty in his scarlet petals, run through with jade filaments over a mottled lime background.
His other two large-scale works of ink on paper on display, stretch about 150 square centimeters and have the mesmerizing effect of situating an objective, planetary observation of Earth through a personalized, creative lens, and, more in the mythopoetic guise of Gaia, as a single organism. Whether covered in a verdant array of leaves, or darkened feathers spruced with crimson fletches, the avian globe flies, motivated by the principles of a perennial garden, which Birsel’s show explicitly expresses in its curatorial text.
“As in all attrition and collapse, he suggests that we start by focusing on our own garden, reorganizing it with what we have come to find in our sacks, and making it bloom again,” reads the gallery statement by Öktem Aykut, in which they identify Birsel’s practice as a conceptual frame encompassing collective impulses that defined the spiritual and intellectual histories of the Enlightenment, Ancient Greece and Mesopotamia. “To do this, we need to redefine both the contents of our sack and our garden and to persevere with goodwill.”
To see with open eyes
The first of two floors at Öktem Aykut features a long-term installation, developed over the course of a quarter-century, titled, “What Expense” (1995-2020). A pile of wood and rubber stamps is strewn beneath a square column, set on the cracked stone ground at the feet of two paintings. The roughly hewn blocks are blackened with ink, barely revealing their cuts, modeling the weaponized vehicles of armed industrialism. A tent canvas sprawls from a corner of the gallery, detailing a spattered collage of faded stamps.
Up a cold stairwell, the artist’s “Red” (2006) series floats, ascending along the bare wall. The piece, “Isolated House,” is especially fitting for the motifs, and lexicography of the show. Also devised with ink on paper, the textural flushes animate a burnt aesthetic, of a blank landscape flooded with fire and blood, darkening cloud-like at its center, wherein the silhouette of a lone house stands at the swirling cusp of a postmodern impressionist’s whims. The pieces in “Red” are macabre enough to blind with a deep gloom evoked by their titles.
The figure of a gunslinging solitary man is portrayed beset by emptiness, in “Running For No Reason,” only to confront with such nightmarish renderings as “Red Desert Storm,” “Spitting Blood,” and “A Bowl of Pain.” But more abstract than representational, Birsel has ever found his muse in the classic, painterly ambiance of the French countryside. In late 2017, together with Sinan Logie, he presented a series of works celebrating the legacy of L’Estaque, a village near Marseille where Cezanne developed much of his post-impressionist style.
“Variable Skies” (2019) is comprised of 10 ink paintings on paper, topping off Birsel’s inaugural Öktem Aykut show, “An Isolated Gaze,” with refreshed insights into his practice, which while also steeped in conceptualism and transdisciplinary multimedia, remains, at once, approachable in its simplicity. His colors are as unique as the moods of his naturalist forms, which carefully, like the hint of a riddle, are heard softly, recurring in thoughts often forgotten, but that return with the sharpness of clarity that prompts the act of stillness on a cold winter’s day.
1. NE PAHASINA? / WHAT EXPENSE?, 1995-2020 Çadır bezi üzerine akrilik baskı, ahşap, kauçuk / Acrylic print on tent canvas, wood, rubber
2. NE PAHASINA? / WHAT EXPENSE?, 1995-2020 Çadır bezi üzerine akrilik baskı, ahşap, kauçuk / Acrylic print on tent canvas, wood, rubber 600x600 cm
3. GEZEGEN HALLERİ II / STATES OF PLANET II, 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 149x151 cm
4. TANK LILIUM, 2017 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 149x151 cm
5. GECE I / NIGHT I, 2007 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 25x39 cm
6. GECE III / NIGHT III, 2007 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 18x46 cm
7. GECE IV / NIGHT IV, 2007 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 21,5x46 cm
8. GECE IX / NIGHT IX, 2007 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 18x46 cm
9. GECE XI / NIGHT XI, 2012 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 20x52 cm
10. GECE XII / NIGHT XII, 2012 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 26x51 cm
11. GECE XIV / NIGHT XIV, 2012 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 35x42 cm
12. GECE XV / NIGHT XV, 2012 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 27x34,5 cm
13. YARIM ŞEHİR / HALF CITY, 2012 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 33x44 cm
14. KIRMIZI / RED, 2006 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper Çeşitli ebatlar / Various sizes 7 Parça / Pieces
15. BOK YOLUNDA KOŞU / RUNNING FOR NO REASON, 2006 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 11x36 cm, 20x44,5cm (çerçeveli / framed)
16. İZOLE EV / ISOLATED HOUSE, 2006 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 9x21 cm, 18x30 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
17. PLAJDA HABER ALMAK / GETTING NEWS ON THE BEACH, 2006 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 12x21 cm, 21,5x30,5 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
18. KIRMIZI ÇÖL FIRTINASI / RED DESERT STORM, 2006 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 11x23 cm, 20x32,5 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
19. KAN KUSMAK / SPITTING BLOOD, 2006 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 11x21 cm, 20x30 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
20. BİR ÇANAK ACI / A BOWL OF PAIN, 2006 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 8x20,5 cm, 17x30 cm (çerçeveli / framed) 11x21 cm, 20x30 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
21. GÖZLÜK / THE GLASSES, 2006 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 17x26 cm, 26x35 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
22. HÜSRAN I / DISAPPOINTMENT I , 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 17x42 cm, 32x51,5 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
23. HÜSRAN II / DISAPPOINTMENT II, 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on canvas 17x42 cm, 32x51,5 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
24. HÜSRAN III / DISAPPOINTMENT III, 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 17,5x39,5 cm, 32x51,5 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
25. RUH KAÇTI I / THE GHOST ESCAPED I, 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 10x30 cm, 18,5x38,5 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
26. RUH KAÇTI II / THE GHOST ESCAPED II, 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 10x44 cm, 19x52,5 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
27. KIRMIZI GÖKYÜZÜ I / RED SKY I, 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 10x29,5 cm, 18,5x38,5 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
28. KIRMIZI GÖKYÜZÜ II / RED SKY II, 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 10x29,5 cm, 19,5x38,5 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
29. YILDIZLI GÖKYÜZÜ / STARRY SKY, 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 10x30 cm, 18,5x38,5 cm
30. SAFRAN GÖKYÜZÜ / SAFFRON SKY, 2020 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep /Ink on paper 7,5x45 cm, 16x54,5 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
31. ŞARAP GÖKYÜZÜ / WINE COLORED SKY, 2020 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 15x45 cm, 24x55 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
32. ALTIN GÖKYÜZÜ I / GOLDEN SKY I, 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 7,5x43 cm, 16,5x52 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
33. ALTIN GÖKYÜZÜ II / GOLDEN SKY II, 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 7x44 cm, 16x53 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
34. METEOR HALLERİ I / STATES OF METEOROID I, 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 45x45 cm, 62x62 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
35. METEOR HALLERİ III / STATES OF METEOROID III, 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 45x45 cm, 62x62 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
36. METEOR HALLERİ IV / STATES OF METEOROID IV, 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 45x45 cm, 62x62 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
37. METEOR HALLERİ VI / STATES OF METEOROID VI, 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 45x45 cm, 62x62 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
38. METEOR HALLERİ VII / STATES OF METEOROID VII, 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 45x45 cm, 62x62 cm (çerçeveli / framed)
39. BİR ŞEYLERİN GELDİĞİNİ GÖRMÜYOR MUSUN? I / DON’T YOU SEE SOMETHINGS ARE APPROACHING I, 2019 Kağıt üzerine mürekkep / Ink on paper 48x77 cm
40. BİR ŞEYLERİN GELDİĞİNİ GÖRÜMÜYOR MUSUN? II / DON’T YOU SEE SOMETHINGS ARE APPROACHING II, 2019 MDF üzerine mürekkep / Ink on MDF 60x120 cm
41. NEBŞ / TO EXHUME, 2019 Bulunmuş ahşap sedye ve bulunmuş ahşap parçaları / Found wood litter and found wood pieces 24x217x67 cm
42. DARA YOLU TANŞAK TARLASI / DARA ROAD TESTIS-EAR-TANK-FIELD, 2010 Kağıt üzerine yağlı boya / Oil on paper 100x185 cm