Hasan Şahbaz: Silhouette Bodies, 2015-2023
There are approximately 10 trillion Homo sapiens cells in the body of an adult human being. Each cell/human lives singularly and independently in microstructure, plural and dependent in macrostructure. In Şahbaz’s sculptures, while each cell is singular and independent, their stacking collectively within predetermined boundaries creates unique body representations. The Silhouette Bodies series enables multiple readings by moving within each other as the cells in the human body form tissues, tissues form organs, organs form systems and all of these form the organism, the living body. These sculptures relate to the bricks that make up buildings, the moments that make up life, and almost everything around us, and are shaped as a representation of the body. Each sculpture is a metaphor for both the part-whole relationship of the body and the macrocosm and microcosm, that is, the universe and human relationship. In this context, the cellular structures Şahbaz uses in his sculptures are related to the dialectic of the macro and micro cosmos as a discourse that encompasses and encompasses all these narratives.
Similar to the effect of the difference in genetic sequences in living organisms on change and diversity, the shape of the cellular spaces in the body of the sculptures, which are connected to each other in a dynamic relationship, and their arrangement in the plaster mould carry the possibility of infinite form. In Şahbaz’s sculptures, errors in the arrangement of cellular spaces, loss of balance, conscious interventions that deconstruct the constructive body in the wet and dry process after the casting of the clay are pregnant with new formations and structures. For this reason, each arrangement of the same plaster mould pieces enables the birth/formation of a ‘new’ representation, identity, being.
As you walk around these sculptures, the mass effect of the body gradually dissolves due to the voids it contains. As the viewing angle changes, the sculptures seem to move, regain volume and turn back into a massive structure. When these sculptures are viewed from the opposite side, the mass structure completely disappears, the cellular voids-holes completely change and lighten the image. According to Şahbaz; ‘sometimes such an angle is captured that the sculpture in the form of a mass is witnessed as a silhouette that turns into only lines and weakens’. As such, with their permeable structure, the sculptures intertwine with the background and establish a new dialogue with their surroundings. Since the sculptures gain a new anatomical structure and identity at the slightest change of angle, one witnesses the formation of a new form at every angle while walking around. Which angle and where to stand in the face of this generous presentation depends on the viewer’s desire to discover.
Captions
- Allegorical Figure-10, Silhouette Bodies, 2017, 43 x 32 x 8 cm, Plaster mould casting technique, Coloured stoneware casting clay, Unglazed firing 1200 °C
- Allegorical Figure-11, Silhouette Bodies, 2017, 40 x 25 x 6,5 cm, Plaster mould casting technique, Coloured stoneware casting clay, Unglazed firing 1200 °C
- Allegorical Figure-21, Silhouette Bodies, 2022, 33,5 x 12 x 8 cm, Plaster mould casting technique, Coloured stoneware casting clay, Unglazed firing 1200 °C
- Allegorical Figure-22, Silhouette Bodies, 2022, 33 x 13,5 x 7,5 cm, Plaster mould casting technique, Coloured stoneware casting clay, Unglazed firing 1200 °C
- Allegorical Figure-24, Silhouette Bodies, 2022, 32,8 x 13,5 x 7 cm, Plaster mould casting technique, Coloured stoneware casting clay, Unglazed firing 1200 °C
- Allegorical Figure-25, Silhouette Bodies, 2022, 30 x 30 x 7 cm, Plaster mould casting technique, Coloured stoneware casting clay, Unglazed firing 1200 °C
- Allegorical Figure-26, Silhouette Bodies, 2022, 33,5 x 12,5 x 8 cm, Plaster mould casting technique, Coloured stoneware casting clay, Unglazed firing 1200 °C
- Dervish, Silhouette Bodies, 2017, 32 x 24 x 7,5 cm, Plaster mould casting technique, Coloured stoneware casting clay, Unglazed firing 1200 °C
- Face to Face, Silhouette Bodies, 2015, 40 x 21,7 x 5,8 cm (left and right), Plaster mould casting technique, Coloured stoneware casting clay, Unglazed firing 1200 °C
- Lonesome, Silhouette Bodies, 2017, 33 x 15 x 6 cm, Plaster mould casting technique, Coloured stoneware casting clay, Unglazed firing 1200 °C
- Purgatory, Silhouette Bodies, 2016, h:56 cm, Plaster mould casting technique, Coloured stoneware casting clay, Unglazed firing 1200 °C
- Self-portrait and Organic Object-1, 2015, (Self-portrait; 40 x 21,7 x 5,6 cm), Plaster mould casting technique, Coloured stoneware casting clay, Unglazed firing 1200 °C
- Silhouette Bodies-001, Silhouette Bodies, 2023, 32,3 x 15 x 8 cm, Plaster mould casting technique, Porcelain casting clay, Unglazed firing 1200 °C
- Silhouette Bodies-002, Silhouette Bodies, 2023, 28,8 x 29 x 7,5 cm, Plaster mould casting technique, Coloured stoneware casting clay, Unglazed firing 1200 °C
- Women, Silhouette Bodies, 2020, 35 x 22,5 x 7 cm, Plaster mould casting technique, Coloured stoneware casting clay, Unglazed firing 1200 °C
- Intonation Exhibition, 2022, Friederike Zeit Gallery, Germany
