Juan Botella Lucas: Seven Sleepers (The Second Resurrection)

Juan Botella Lucas is at Pi Artworks Tophane with his solo exhibition ''Seven Sleepers (The Second Resurrection)'' between the dates October 4th - November 25th, 2012. The exhibition is the second part of  Lucas' project inspired by the ''Seven Sleepers'' myth which is based on Anatolian geography and history, mentioned in the holy books as well.

"Seven Sleepers (The Second Resurrection)" is an interpretation of the physical reality of cave in the myth. The reaserchers presume there are 33 caves of Seven Sleepers all around the world. Those caves are touristic attractions that combine superficiality and depth, materiality and spirituality, entertainment for the holiday and connotations of immortality. In this project the artist also questions keeping the myth and history alive and turning them into a part of the reality. As Jorge Luis Borges quotes: "(. . .) truth, whose mother is history, rival of time, depository of deeds, witness of the past, exemplar and adviser to the present, and the future's counselor."

The first exhibition of the project, "Seven Sleepers (as)", was held at Pi Artworks Tophane in Spring 2012 and invited the audience to face the unconsciousness of everyday life and to question the inner self. As the first part was visualized over the mattress form as a metaphor of birth, death, illness, sexuality, thought, nightmares and dreams, the second part keeps on this reflection.

Juan Botella Lucas was born in Madrid in 1970, graduated from Madrid Universidad Complutense de Madrid Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Sculpture in 1995. He lives in Turkey since 1998 and he is currently working as a lecturer in Mersin University Faculty of Fine Arts. He has been represented by Pi Artworks since 2007 and had three solo exhibitions titled "Seven Sleepers (as)" (2012), "70% Water 99% Sponge" (2009)  and "Bailes de Mente II" (2008) with the gallery. Other selected exhibitions by Juan Botella Lucas are "Where Fire Has Struck" at Depo (Istanbul, 2011); "Fasa Fiso" at Cer Modern (Ankara, 2010); "10th Istanbul Biennial" under Hafriyat Group (Istanbul, 2007); "22nd Alexandria Biennial", (Egypt, 2003); "Death=Death" curated by Levent Çalıkoğlu (Istanbul, 2001); "Museen on Line" at Lugen Museum (Germany, 1999). He has been honored by "Meister Schuler" award by Berlin Fine Arts Academy in 1999