From 2010, ARTER has offered a continual base for the production and display of contemporary art. Since opening its doors, the gallery has hosted a number of innovative group and solo exhibitions featuring contemporary artists from around the world. Until 17 August, ARTER exhibits work from one of Turkey’s most pioneering female artists, Füsun Onur. Curated by exhibition director Emre Baykal, “Through the Looking Glass” brings together over 40 works spanning from the artist’s early career to her most recent realizations.
Borrowing its title from Lewis Carroll’s book, “Through the Looking Glass” reflects Onur’s exploration of space, time, rhythm, form and the potential of these elements. The exhibition covers everything from Onur’s early abstract drawings to sculptural installations that employ everyday materials such as deconstructed furniture, textiles, beads, photographs and toys.
I visited the exhibition for the first time during the opening reception in May, and was first of all struck by the profound presence of “Mirrored Labyrinth,” which faces the gallery’s entrance on Istiklal Caddesi. This sculptural installation allows the viewer to surround themselves with their multiplied image, expressing the possibilities of space and three-dimensional drawing.
As I walked throughout the exhibition, I was absorbed by Onur’s diverse range of materials and forms. The ground floor of the gallery presents an overview of the artist’s world by combining early works, such as a series of abstract drawings, with recently exhibited pieces and newly developed projects.
As the audience progresses to the upper levels of ARTER, they are met by works oriented towards the expansive connections between sculpture and painting, as well as between painting and frame. This concept can be seen with “Third Dimension Painting / Come in,” an installation on the first floor that prompts the viewer to lie on an inviting floor cushion, allowing them to gaze at a starry dome above. As a visual artist, and one who works with two-dimensional surfaces, I am always enthralled with the experience of being within a work of art rather than removed from it. This installation, which is constructed delicately from simple fabrics and strings, places the viewer within the space rather than distancing them from it. The remainder of the first floor offers an array of works that invite the viewer in with Onur’s unique use of space and materials. Overall, the floor is a visual feast of fabrics and adorning beads, glitters, tulles and tinsels.
The second floor, which is dedicated to works relating to the domestic sphere, displays a series of surreal dreamscapes realized through deconstructed furniture, family toys, childhood clothes and old photographs. As one enters the floor, she findd the space divided with elements of light and cast shadows. With the installation “Icons of Time,” Onur plays with both the connection and division between the domestic and public realm. Although it is not immediately obvious, the framed structures in this piece resemble an irregular display of doors and windows placed out of the context of home. Cut leather stretched within the frames cast ambiguous shadows on the floor, referencing a traditional form of Turkish shadow theater, Karagöz. The dynamics of light and shadow, as well as Onur’s use of material, make this installation an introduction to the other works displayed on this floor, such as “Elegy for Tekir.” In this piece, Onur projects images of her playful pet cat onto the walls of the gallery using a delicate lacy fabric.
Perhaps the most evocative piece on the second floor, however, is not an installation which projects onto and uses the space around it, but rather a work that contains and holds space. The small dollhouse tucked into a corner of the gallery was brought to the exhibition as a piece not originally conceived as artwork, but as a hobby. Onur began this sophisticated structure in her youth before it turned into a strong passion. It is displayed in the exhibition as a representation of the role of house and home. The viewer feels an instant urge to peer into its intricate windows in order to discover every deliberately placed detail.
Finally, “Through the Looking Glass” concludes with the surreal spacial experience of the third floor, which has been transformed into a single installation. “Counterpoint with Flowers” transports the audience into a dreamscape with curiously formed plants dispersed throughout the space. The blue material canopied on the ceiling and clinging to the walls casts a cerulean light on the room, creating a feeling of submersion into a surreal underwater landscape.
“Through the Looking Glass” is a beautifully tied together exhibition reflecting the expansion of boundaries and blurring of borders. After several visits I found the exhibition and Onur’s work to be an incredible experience of altered reality and surreal worlds with strong feminine articulations. I greatly admired her expressive use of material, intelligent use of space and beautifully developed concepts. This unique retrospective from one of Turkey’s prominent female artists is certainly not to be missed.
ARTER – space for art
İstiklal Caddesi No: 211
Beyoğlu
Opening Hours:
Tuesday–Thursday: 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Friday–Sunday: 12:00-8:00 p.m.
Closed on Mondays
Admission is free.
Gabrielle Reeves is a contributor to Yabangee and blogs at mavilale.wordpress.com. You can check out her portfolio and learn more about her work at gabriellereeves.com.
very intelligent, chic review