Gulsun Karamustafa
dal 3/2/2011 al 8/4/2011
Segnalato da
3/2/2011
Gulsun Karamustafa
Ifa-gallery, Stuttgart
Solo for...The artist is using the ifa Gallery Stuttgart as a stage for the installation called Etiquette, which draws on the image of party around a table in the early twentieth century. Socially conditioned rules of conduct and manners are inscribed in this historical salon, which also trains gender roles.
In the "Solo for …" series we invite once a year artists who were participating in exhibitions in the ifa Galleries already in the early 1990s, right at the beginning of their international careers. Works by Gülsün Karamustafa, one of the most important Turkish artists, have been shown 1994 in "Iskele" and 1999 in "stills, cuts & fragments" in ifa Gallery Stuttgart.
Gülsün Karamustafa (born 1946 in Ankara, lives in Istanbul) is using the ifa Gallery Stuttgart as a stage for the installation called "Etiquette" which draws on the image of party around a table in the early twentieth century. Socially conditioned rules of conduct and manners are inscribed in this historical salon, which also trains gender roles.
ifa Galleries Stuttgart and Berlin begin their new "Solo for …" series of exhibitions with Gülsün Karamustafa, one of the most important and pioneering Turkish artists of the past two decades. For "Iskele" (1994) she created the artwork "Heimat ist, wo man isst" ("home is where you eat"), which references a recurring theme – migration, expulsion and modern nomadism. Her installation "Mystic Transport", created in 1992 for the 3rd International Istanbul Biennial, was unforgettable: Twenty wheeled wire mesh and waste baskets of the kind used for laundry in hotels, each with a colourful quilt inside, were scattered around the space and could be pushed around by exhibition visitors. They reference the mobility of modern nomads and the fragility of the nomadic existence, the homelessness of migrants and refugees and their poverty and feeling of helplessness.
For "stills, cuts & fragments" (1999), Gülsün Karamustafa conceived and created the "fragmenting/Fragments" installation, in which she engages with orientalism. She covered parts of the space with details of paintings by French orientalists of the 19th century, showing fragments: An elegant foot, a white breast, a ringed hand, an outstretched neck ... The artist is referencing the Western construct of orientalism as theorised by Edward W. Said as well as the beginning of art being used in mass culture in the 19th century. These seductive extracts from 19th century paintings could be used in modern adverts for perfume, home textiles and chocolate. By applying these still-potent fragments of longing to the walls and the floor in bits and pieces, Gülsün Karamustafa makes us aware of the fact that today, artworks, traditional images of women and oriental stereotypes are still being copied a thousand times, reproduced, passed along and consumed.
The themes she addresses – identity and migration, cultural differences and acculturation, orientalism and post-colonialism – are not the only reason why Gülsün Karamustafa is one of the most important artists for the ifa Galleries and why she has been chosen to begin the "Solo for ..." series. This is also due – perhaps to an even greater extent – to the way she expresses these themes in her art. Her works are "quiet", even when she uses vivid colours. They are full of seriousness, a high degree of involvement, deep humanity and a certain melancholy, with an occasional flash of humour. Her poetry, her "fragility", moves us deeply.
Head of Public Relations
Jonas Mossmüller Phone: +49 / 711 / 2225-105 moosmueller@ifa.de
Assistance
Anna Siepelmeyer Phone: +49 / 711 / 2225-212 Fax: +49 / 711 / 2225-131 siepelmeyer@ifa.de
Ifa-gallery
Charlottenplatz 17 - Stuttgart