1/3/2013
Guclu Oztekin
Rampa, Istanbul
Good Stuff Takes Time - Great Things Happen Suddenly. The works imprisoned in the gallery relate to each other, Oztekin divides the main exhibition space into two, displaying two groups of "abstract" and "portrait" artworks back to back.
Rampa hosts Güçlü Öztekin's exhibition, Good Stuff Takes Time—Great Things Happen Suddenly, from March 2nd to 30th, 2013.
Güçlü Öztekin, who has previously transformed Rampa's space using various tools and works of different sizes, now splits the space starkly in half. The works imprisoned in the space relate to each other, referring to Rampa's architectural structure and the artist's position as a self-conscious temporary invader.
Öztekin's second exhibition at Rampa addresses the artist's multi-layered relationship with the space and his own production. Öztekin divides the main exhibition space into two, displaying two groups of "abstract" and "portrait" artworks back to back. The abstract works can be read as the deconstructed, destroyed, segmented versions of the various shapes and figures that the artist employs in his work, while the portraits tend towards an androgynous, genderless human type. The abstracts and portraits are both in line with Öztekin's visual language; the sharp division between them and the foregrounding of the content unifies the artist's practice while creating a rift at the same time. The artist thus utilizes this superficial split in his own works as point of departure for production. As the viewer cannot simultaneously see what lies on both sides of the wall, the works that are left "outside" invite the viewer to consider the framework that is deconstructed, produced, and interrogated in Öztekin's exhibitions.
The exhibition space on the street level opposes the sharp division in the main exhibition space and is the visualization of a brainstorming session. Öztekin invades and claims the space with two- and three-dimensional objects. Öztekin produces a space within a space, under the auspices of the same exhibition, encouraging viewers to indulge bit by bit; he does not separate the production process from the exhibition process. This attitude enables the exhibition to move, not dissimilarly to an amoebic creature.
It is impossible to predict what effect a particular exhibition space will
have on Güçlü Öztekin’s works. Usually he works for some time in the
space he will exhibit in and for days if not weeks the floor is scattered
with a carpet of paintings and sketches. Yet up until the moment
installation begins, this paper-based portfolio has only experienced its
first period of production.
Once in the exhibition space, a secondary process, which sees the
paintings morph into and with the gallery’s walls, floor and ceiling,
begins. This undulating, cognitive involvement that Öztekin assumes
with his works, and the new forms and techniques he applies to them,
as time progresses, forms the essential substance of his practice. While
each painting is initially autonomous in its own frame of paper, when
repositioned in a three-dimensional exhibition context Öztekin sets to
work once again to assert a new layer of language to unify threads of
cross-reference throughout the space.
Öztekin explains his process of working as one of following a series of
channels. These channels represent different focuses and applications
of techniques, but they do not always follow one direct path and can
branch off on other tributaries as the context shifts. First and most
true to the previous stage of production are the paintings which are
simply hung without any on-site alterations; then there are the site-
specific wall paintings conceived during the installation period; a
separate channel allows for the multi-layering of works, where either a
number of works or techniques becomes one, or one work subdivides
into many. A common channel is that of erasure. And, lastly, in
contrast to the former, is a play on dimensions whereby a previously
flat work on paper is reworked into a sculpted three-dimensional form.
These channels crisscross the exhibition space and place the audience
in the midst of a web of shapes, forms, techniques and repetitions that
express the culminating channel: one of composition.
The majority of Öztekin’s works start their lives as rather traditionally
rendered paintings. Often the canvas is a sheet of rectangular paper on
which he paints images that can be read as understood forms – faces,
characters, cartoon-like vehicles and text. Yet this is just the base for
the more defining acts of his practice, within which he speculates
on the limits of painting, and more literally on the limits of his own
‘traditional’ paintings, their surface and content. The act of erasing his
own works, by systematically inflicting them with punched out holes
and scalpel incisions, results in exquisite textures and allows for subtle
movements of light and hence form, and often a littering of their
remains on the floor. When Öztekin foresees a different conclusion
he may employ glue and water to papier maché a flat image into a
three-dimensional form. A flat face becomes a caricature of itself,
or an area of ceiling a landscape of stalactites. When approaches are
combined, an erased skeletal piece is inverted and used as stencil for
further creation, or it is hung over a wall painting to form yet another
temporarily composed work.
As Öztekin breaks loose of his own set of structures, an installation
can take on a multi-lingual shape. There are so many details of action
and technique in his world that the cumulative exhibition experience
can only be momentary. Like the often-ephemeral quality of the
works on display, their lifetime in this symbiotic relationship with one
another is not meant to last and each piece will eventually return to
a more standard form similar to the one they originated from. So, it
is only when they live and breathe together that Öztekin’s speculation
on the limits of painting turns into a material scenario way beyond the
confines of a canvas, a frame, or a piece of paper.
November Paynter
Güçlü Öztekin (Eskişehir, 1978) graduated from Mimar Sinan University
Faculty of Fine Arts Department of Painting in 2003. He has had many
solo exhibitions since 2006, lately “kAPLANKADİLAk - He Was a Nasty
Man But He Washed His Hands Obsessively”, Rampa, İstanbul (2010).
He is also a member of HA ZA VU ZU artist group founded in 2005.
Together with HA ZA VU ZU, he took part in various group exhibitions
with his performances and works including “For Whom Is It Too
Late Today? - Between Stamp and Mars”, Frac des Pays de la Loire,
Carquefou (2009); 10th International Baltic Art Triennial, Vilnius
(2009); 10th Lyon Biennial, Lyon (2009); Kaserne, Basel (2008); Mercy,
Liverpool (2008); Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Rotterdam (2008);
Triennale Bovisa, Milan (2008); Lokaal01, Antwerp (2008) and 10th
İstanbul Biennial (2007).
Güçlü Öztekin lives and works in İstanbul.
Press contact
Mr. Üstüngel İnanç, T +90 212 327 0800 / uinanc@rampaistanbul.com
Rampa Istanbul
Şair Nedim Caddesi No: 21a 34357 Akaretler Beşiktaş Istanbul, Turkey
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday 11–19h