20/11/2013
Vahap Avsar
Rampa, Istanbul
Black Album
Aptly named, the exhibition 'Black Album' presents a turn in Vahap Avsar's artistic practice towards a darker and more formal place where power relationships are at the center of his questioning. The exhibition chooses to deal with the political in the daily in a rather implicit and quiet manner. Juxtaposing works new and old, it shows a continuing thread in Avsar's practice that deals with formal issues such as fluidity, permeability and the contrast and the clarity of the black & white extending the formal qualities to their conceptual counterparts. The series Black Album (2012-2013) is realized with a technique the artist developed in recent years using metallic silver paint on tar felt: In a large pool, the metallic paint freezes at the moment it meets asphalt, a material that the artist used incessantly during the earlier years of his practice.