“Free Speech Zone” @ Gallery Ilayda

Gallery Ilayda will host the solo exhibition “Free Speech Zone” of artist Damla Özdemir from Friday 26 May through Friday 23 June.

Free Speech Zone
Damla Özdemir – Three Dimensional Collage – 70x100cm (2017)

From the organizer:

“Free Speech Zone” is the new project of Damla Özdemir, who distinguishes herself among the younger generation of artists with her collages based on stop-motion animation techniques and digital art practices.

Presenting a selection from Özdemir’s most recent works, the show focuses on the existential possibilities of expression. It is a result of the artist’s questioning of the connections –and contrasts– between individuals’ sense of belonging and freedom. Identity, gender, cultural codes, war and civilization are some of the themes these questionings deal with.

The artist’s use of the collage technique, which brings together various elements that appear as if they wouldn’t work together –let alone create a visually pleasing composition– also makes use of the unlimited possibilities offered by today’s digital world which constantly bombards our senses. Özdemir’s works don’t lose touch with the world’s events while they make us question our existence; and though they may look as if they depict a dystopian world, they make real the concepts that exist in the digital realm in the form of codes, thus exploring the possibilities offered by this new language. Things that once were meaningful within their contexts turn into simple constructions through Özdemir’s actions of detaching and reattaching, cutting and dispelling, and combining to create new contexts.

By breaking apart, recombining and layering surfaces in order to create three dimensional forms, the artist creates fictional realities. And though viewers may focus on the work as a whole, this structure of intertwined elements provide her with new ways of expression.

In Özdemir’s works we see a parade of figures depicted with gestures that create the emotional context of the works which coexist with surreal images the scales of which have been modified, cityscapes the center of which have been extended, nature and urbanization, plants and animals.


For more information, check out the official exhibition page.

Tuesday – Saturday: 11:00 – 19:00

+90 212 227 92 92
info@galleryilayda.com

Featured image sourced via Gallery Ilayda.

Hüsrev Gerede Cad. No:37 – Teşvikiye
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