Mehmet Ali Uysal: Painting
In his third solo show at Pi Artworks Istanbul, Mehmet Ali Uysal reveals his Paintings to the audience. However, these Paintings are not immediately visible, but rather, exist in the space between presence and absence. Uysal explores and experiments with the perception of the viewer and provokes the audience to visualize these embedded works in the wall. In fact, the gallery space is rendered completely white, calling for the viewer's eyes to slowly discover Uysal' embedded installations. These are made of plaster, as is the gallery itself, and appear in a variety of blank bulky renaissance frames of different forms and sizes.
The idea of space, and the concept of the white cube are significant elements in the oeuvre of Mehmet Ali Uysal. Within this white cube, he examines his own creative process and its relationship with the end result, alongside the inevitable structural transformation of the space. The artist manipulates the gallery space and converts the conceptual and ideological power of it as a white cube. With his embedded blank frames, Uysal questions the changing value of painting, the power of art galleries, museums and the art market as well as the relationship of all these elements to the art piece. This is not a questioning from outside to inside but from inside to outside. For Uysal, it is the destruction of the white cube space through its very existence that stands at the core of this work.
Mehmet Ali Uysal, 1976 Mersin, Turkey.
Selected solo exhibitions: Pinch me Awake, Starke Foundation, Berlin, Germany (2013 October); Our Soul is an Abode, Art Basel Hong Kong, HK (2013); Peel, Nesrin Esirtgen Collection, Istanbul, Turkey (2012); Malist, Q Contemporary, Beirut, Lebanon (2011); Mist, Etemad Gallery, Dubai, UAE (2011). Suspended, Pi Artworks, Istanbul, Turkey (2010).
Selected joint exhibitions: Fasafiso and +Infinity, Cer Modern, Ankara, Turkey (2012); 2010 Mardin Biennial, Mardin, Turkey (2010); Festival Cinq Saisons, Belguim (2010); In Search of Lost Reality: New Generation, Gallery Nev, Ankara, Turkey (2009); Ex-libris; Gallery Eigheinheim, Germany (2008); the Contemporary Art Residence Le Vent Des Forets, France (2008); Jeune Creation, Grand Hall Villette, France (2008).
Selected public collections: Ozyegin University, Istanbul, Turkey; Vehbi Koç Foundation Collection Istanbul, Turkey; Le Vent Des Forets Festival Public Collection, Meuse, France; Chaudfontaine Parks Public Collection, Liege, Belgium; Samdani Art Foundation, Bangladesh; Jaidah Brothers Art Foundation Collection, Qatar, UAE; Umea City Public Collection, Umea, Sweden.
In his third solo show at Pi Artworks Istanbul, Mehmet Ali Uysal reveals his Paintings to the audience. However, these Paintings are not immediately visible, but rather, exist in the space between presence and absence. Uysal explores and experiments with the perception of the viewer and provokes the audience to visualize these embedded works in the wall. In fact, the gallery space is rendered completely white, calling for the viewer's eyes to slowly discover Uysal' embedded installations. These are made of plaster, as is the gallery itself, and appear in a variety of blank bulky renaissance frames of different forms and sizes.
The idea of space, and the concept of the white cube are significant elements in the oeuvre of Mehmet Ali Uysal. Within this white cube, he examines his own creative process and its relationship with the end result, alongside the inevitable structural transformation of the space. The artist manipulates the gallery space and converts the conceptual and ideological power of it as a white cube. With his embedded blank frames, Uysal questions the changing value of painting, the power of art galleries, museums and the art market as well as the relationship of all these elements to the art piece. This is not a questioning from outside to inside but from inside to outside. For Uysal, it is the destruction of the white cube space through its very existence that stands at the core of this work.
Mehmet Ali Uysal, 1976 Mersin, Turkey.
Selected solo exhibitions: Pinch me Awake, Starke Foundation, Berlin, Germany (2013 October); Our Soul is an Abode, Art Basel Hong Kong, HK (2013); Peel, Nesrin Esirtgen Collection, Istanbul, Turkey (2012); Malist, Q Contemporary, Beirut, Lebanon (2011); Mist, Etemad Gallery, Dubai, UAE (2011). Suspended, Pi Artworks, Istanbul, Turkey (2010).
Selected joint exhibitions: Fasafiso and +Infinity, Cer Modern, Ankara, Turkey (2012); 2010 Mardin Biennial, Mardin, Turkey (2010); Festival Cinq Saisons, Belguim (2010); In Search of Lost Reality: New Generation, Gallery Nev, Ankara, Turkey (2009); Ex-libris; Gallery Eigheinheim, Germany (2008); the Contemporary Art Residence Le Vent Des Forets, France (2008); Jeune Creation, Grand Hall Villette, France (2008).
Selected public collections: Ozyegin University, Istanbul, Turkey; Vehbi Koç Foundation Collection Istanbul, Turkey; Le Vent Des Forets Festival Public Collection, Meuse, France; Chaudfontaine Parks Public Collection, Liege, Belgium; Samdani Art Foundation, Bangladesh; Jaidah Brothers Art Foundation Collection, Qatar, UAE; Umea City Public Collection, Umea, Sweden.
