Sevil Dolmacı Art Gallery opens the season with Everything Has Its Place Exhibition Curated by Dr. Kathy Battista and Featuring the Works of 17 International Artists
Sevil Dolmacı Art Gallery is hosting Everything Has Its Place, curated by Dr. Kathy Battista and featuring 17 international contemporary artists. The exhibition, which presents a new interpretation of the traditional still life genre and is inspired by the gallery's history and architecture full of splendor and luxury, will be on view from September 30 to November 2.
Sevil Dolmacı Art Gallery presents Everything Has Its Place, curated by Dr. Kathy Battista, featuring works by international and Turkish artists such as Haluk Akakçe, Hangama Amiri, Theodore Boyer, Kevin Brisco, Ori Gersht, Nicholas Hunt, Tina Lechner, Rachel Libeskind, Alex McQuilkin, Andy Mister, Fawn Rogers, Dominic Bouffard, David Risley, Şahin Demir, Nejat Satı and Çağatay Odabaş. Influenced by iconic masters of modernism such as Giorgio Morandi, John Frederick Peto and Chaïm Soutine, these young artists from different geographies have reinterpreted still life as an important subject in art history. Battista thus presents the current selection of still life works using different materials and forms of execution to the Turkish art scene simultaneously with the world.
The tradition of still life painting gained momentum with the rise of the bourgeoisie in Northern Europe in the 17th century and continued as a popular subject for many years, dominated by western, white, male painters. Everything Has Its Place presents a contemporary trend that breaks with this western tradition, both in terms of participating artists and production techniques. Unlike 17th century western Europe, the exhibition features artists from Istanbul, Copenhagen, Vienna, Kabul, Berlin, Los Angeles, Copenhagen, Vienna, Kabul, Berlin and Los Angeles, as well as women artists who bring new perspectives to the concept of still life. The works in the exhibition range from canvas works to watercolors, hand-colored photographs, video installations and sound performances. Large-scale paintings by Theodore Boyer and Nicholas Hunt are in dialog with textile works by Hangama Amiri. Videos by Ori Gersht, Rachel Libeskind and Fawn Rogers update and redefine our idea of still life.
Battista draws attention to the fact that our relationship with the objects surrounding us has changed during the period we stayed at home due to the pandemic and questions this relationship in depth. For many of us, this has been a time when our living spaces have become our focal point, resulting in personal realizations. As we re-examined our lives, the objects around us began to take on a new meaning. The simplest things - flowers, eggs, books, seashells - took on a new clarity as the speed of the world slowed down. The small souvenirs that arrived in our homes from other countries evoked both anxiety and nostalgia: on the one hand we remembered a world where we roamed freely, and at the same time we feared closed borders and uncanny environments. The artworks in this exhibition were born out of a pandemic and quarantine that brought some joyful side effects. The pandemic also gave us the opportunity to spend more time with family, to read the books stacked next to our beds, and to reimagine our lives. The artists in the exhibition reflected on these life-given opportunities, proving that glorious triumphs and insights can emerge from great adversity. As our lives reopen to the outside world, Battista encourages us to stay calm/slow and rethink the richness of our lives, as we did during the pandemic.
