Betül Demir Karakaya & Gökçe Özer: 1+1 / Terakki Foundation Art Gallery, Istanbul
January 9 – February 8, 2014
“Suddenly a voice is heard from 1+1…
One is quiet, whereas two is loud. 1+1 represents something more than a simple mathematical equation and the solution to this equation “2” is more than a number. It is an option against singularity.
The ceramic work of Betül Demir Karakaya and Gökçe Özer show us how different ones can add up to “2”. Özer’s ceramic sculptures portraying small heads on twirling bodies with hearts that have turned into black buttons carry the signs of a quiet but threatening power, while sculptures with open mouths, made using the same technique, create a place to hide from this threat. Whereas Demir’s ceramic bells give the signals of giving up an artist’s competence. With the game,she has extended an invitation to the audience by presenting a way to speak with them. Soil, that has been the common heritage of human kind, accumulates with a voice from two different languages in two female artists’ hands.
Ceramic works of Özer and Demir that have chosen two’s dynamism, instead of the competence of one -that isolates, makes blind and fattens- and two’s dialogue, instead of one’s monologue, will meet its audience at Terakki Art.” Words by Hazal Aksoy
Betül Demir Karakaya was born in 1978 in Izmir-Turkey, and started art education at Stragonov Moscow State University of Industrial and Applied Arts in 1998. Graduated from Hacettepe University Fine Arts Faculty Ceramics Department in 2002. In 2010 she has concluded her MFA at Anadolu University Institute of Fine Arts with the theme “Ceramic Bells Throughout History”. She is writing her PhD thesis at the same institute. She has many art pieces at private and public collections, including MIC Faenza International Ceramic Museum. She works at Karatekin University Fine Arts Faculty Ceramics Department as a lecturer.
Gökçe Özer was born in 1984 in Afyon. In 2002, she graduated from Ankara Anatolian High School of Fine Arts, Department of Painting, and in 2010 she graduated from Anadolu University Faculty of Fine Arts Ceramics Department. She studied as an exchange student between 2009-2010 at Universitat zu Köln. Presently she is working as a research assistant at Anadolu University Faculty of Fine Arts ceramic department and studied MA at the Institute of Fine Arts on ‘Influence of Wabi-sabi Aesthetic on Japanese Ceramic Art’. Currently she is a PhD candidate at Anadolu University Institute of Fine Arts.
CONTACT
iletisim@terakkisanat.com
Tel. 0212 351 00 60
Terakki Foundation Art Gallery
Ebulula Mardin Caddesi Öztürk Sokak, 2
34335 Levent-İstanbul
Turkey
www.terakkisanat.com
Above: Gökçe Özer, Cemaat V, 2014, Stoneware (1200°C), 30x22x10 cm.
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