Printed Re-visited
“The negative is comparable to the composer’s score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways.”
Since 2012, Mixer aims to democratise the access to arts and supporting this mission through its exhibition and public programs, web site and projects. Mixer Editions is a project which was also born in 2014 with this idea of making art more accessible. It is a platform where you can have access to the print works of established and young artists and it encourages people to create their own collections. With the training and talk program it also aims to increase the awareness of print production.
Printing is one of the oldest production techniques used by prominent artists such as Dürer, Goya, Rembrandt and it became more popular with Pop Art after the Second World War. Making prints needed a genius and creative mind who can create a ‘negative’ envisioning the final image. It also provides the artist a great spectrum and possibilities of creation. Besides the impeccability of this technique, it can be multiplied and be a part of several collections. Contrary to the exclusive nature of art, this provides a more democratic and affordable option for collectors. Most of the time prints are considered to be a first step to start your collection. Sometimes it is the only way to reach an artist of whom you cannot consider buying a unique work due to its price.
Since 2014, we are following our passion towards the print world by digging into the archives of artists and galleries to make it accessible to our audience. We consider Printed exhibition series a celebration of prints in collaboration with other galleries, universities, curators and institutions worldwide. The exhibitions are always supported with an extensive public program including theoretical and practical training program.
Due to Covid-19 pandemic, we had to delay Printed’20 which was planned to be open in mid April and curated by Kerimcan Güleryüz. We wanted to use the capabilities of internet and prepare a selection of previous Printed exhibitions since 2015 on an online platform. In this selection you will have access to some of the prints that were previously shown in our gallery space accompanied by some fresh ones from the press machine. You can also have access to our previous Printed exhibitions archive with interviews, installation shots and digital catalogues.
This time we are making our opening with an online event with the participation of Eda Kehale Argün, Prof. Dr. Marcus Graf and Assoc. Prof. Ozan Bilginer as speakers and Hamit Hamutcu as the moderator. With her in depth knowledge of the print world, Eda Kehale Argün amazingly delivered a seemingly impossible task by providing a personal and impressive cross section of Turkish art over the last 30 years in Printed’17: The Multiplier Effect. With his expertise on multiples, curator Prof. Dr. Marcus Graf made a great selection in Printed’19: The Multiple Choice, stretching the limits of multiples with today’s pluralist perspective as a blended version of contemporary art in terms of different ideas, aesthetic and methods. One of the artists from Printed’18, Ozan Bilginer is a professor at Hacettepe University Fine Arts Department and he teaches different print techniques in the same university. The event will take place on 8th of May, 2020 at 16:00 on Zoom, and the record will also be published on this website.
We hope you enjoy this selection and get acquainted with printing techniques and follow our online events to further embrace the vibrant world of prints.
PRINTING TECHNIQUES
Printing techniques are first developed to multiply and distribute religious texts to more people. Later on it is also used in arts mainly in Asia starting from the early 15th century. In this text you can find more information on different printing techniques.
Prınted ARCHIVE
Mixer is preparing Printed exhibitions series since 2015 every year in spring. These exhibitions are realized in collaboration with other galleries and curators. In this link you can reach the archives of these exhibitions, digital catalogs, videos and artists.
INTERVIEWS
As a part of our mission at Printed exhibitions series, Mixer is willing to provide as much information as possible about the artists and the artworks. In this link you can access to the archives of interviews made as a part of Printed exhibition series.
ARTISTS
As one of the prominent figures of the art scene, Abidin Dino was interested in everything that was alive, skillfully capturing images with his brush, pencil and camera. His source of inspiration was Istanbul, as he used the unique power of his line to render the streets of Istanbul. You can see his series Esrarkeşler and The Last Traces on silkscreen . (Courtesy of Galeri Nev Ankara)
Mixer is working in collaboration with Jealous Print Studio in London since 2017. Jealous was founded in Crouch End, London in 2008 by Dario Illari and Jacquie Ryle, who enlisted the help of screenprinter Matthew Rich and Adam Bridgland. This print co-produced by Adam Bridgland and Bench Allen heralds the arrival of summer soon. (Courtesy of Jealous Gallery)
Adam Hayes is an artist, illustrator and designer, currently working from his quiet studio in England’s Peak District. In 2006 he graduated from The Royal College of Art and has since worked on various projects for himself, his friends and for a growing list of clients worldwide. (Courtesy of Jealous Gallery)
Ali Şentürk, as a multidisciplinary artists, utilizes different techniques such as sculpture, painting, photography, video or performance as a tool for his research projects. He recently seeks for ‘healing’ concept and if it is possible to heal our or each other’s wounds. He uses patterns and repetition in his works and stories, as a part of this hearing process.
Arif Dino is a member of a family of artists and writers. He is the elder brother of Abidin Dino. There are many writers, painters, caricaturist and journalists in his family. He was educated abroad. He worked as a boxer, cook, actor, portrait painter, graphic artist, sculptor and art critique. This works from his ‘Faces‘ series was exhibited at Printed’18. (Courtesy of Galeri Nev Ankara)
While looking into the “ideal metropolis subject” in rapidly changing agendas of city life, Boynudelik visualizes the signs of becoming unresponsive, senseless and loneliness with her paintings at the same time. Especially in Covid-19 times, the city-people who had time to reconnect with the very nature of themselves realized the necessity to bond with nature again.
“Red Room: Sequences” can be defined as an installation that points to the cinematographic interdisciplinary structure of contemporary art. The work’s references about fictionary relation between moving picture (cinema) and still picture (photo, picture) are showing us the necessity to examine the cinema as an independent art discipline as well as a medium of contemporary art. Red Room: Sequence 30,31,32, produced by from the work of the Red Room / Sequences.
In 1998, the president of Turkey proclaimed that all police stations would become transparent. The work Transparent Police Station, claims that the violence that the power designates is a well-known but an uncommon situation. This work is dedicated to the Students of Manisa, who were arrested because of the graffiti they painted, and who were put through a harsh sexual, physical, psychological torment.
Aoshima’s works often involve surreal scenes and dreamscapes, often including ghosts, demons, nature and shojo. Aoshima mostly prints large scale images onto papers with heavy-duty printers, but she has also printed on materials such as leather and plastic surfaces to give her images different textures. After participating in her first show, Murakami's Tokyo Girls Bravo, she began to work in Murakami’s factory.
This work is CINS’ first trial of a multipliable sculpture that was produced specially for Printed’19 which was mainly focusing on multiplied objects and how artists consider the concept of multiplying their productions. His work consists of bone or meat like organic forms and imaginary stories that ultimately aim to arouse varying sensations within the audience. However, these stories are not based on sentiment; they are generally surreal, abstract stories awaking unpredictable reactions and feeling in its viewer.
Deniz Köze is an artist living in Eskişehir. Her earlier works were mostly linoleum prints focusing on industrial locations such as train lines, factories. Bringing the viewer together with tens of color variations, she aims to trigger their imaginary world. By that she intends to make the minds which remained sort of limited until now for some reasons reach beyond the boundaries and meet with what transmutated. The viewer loses the perception of space while looking at her works.
Engraving is Desen’s main area of expertise. One of the topics she focuses on is the city which is built and distracted everyday. As a self-fighting arena of the roads that connect to Taksim as vasculars that connect to the heart and being forced to watch it remotely is another proposition of extinction. It is a different form of documentation of a topographic image that represents a start from scratch with a longing for the green. Taksim Square's "star" image will stay in our digital memories until the next update.
His work “Bargain” is designed to be a story of self realization. While morality teachings that are being used to repress the society are presented as a fetish object with the timid woman figure; the fish figure that no longer belongs to the crowd challenges the woman. In the work, a potential energy occurs just like the story of Icarus. In this sense, Daedelus’ rational mind and Icarus’s romantic and determined attitude bargain. The child is a witness of this bargain. The saxophone he is playing emphasizes the loudness of this self-realization process. This story is observed by a society that consists of monotype personas.
From the series “And the House Frowned”, Wallpaper dwells on the relationship between brutality and fragility within the concepts of oppression and suppression. Through embedding flowers in concrete three actions occur: killing, housing and preserving. The flowers that are embedded in concrete do not die immediately; their death is observable. They get weakened in time, but this way of dying makes them preserve their color. On one hand their lives are taken, on the other hand they are given immortality as a result of being housed permanently.
In his work, Emin Mete focuses on changes and transformations of what is sacred through time. In mythology, it is common to see that the goddess figure transforming into masculine forms through time, or mother goddess figure converting into an angel, losing her sacredness. In this work, an harpy that is converted from a goddess is holding a sunflower, which is symbolizing the ‘sun’. The sun symbol has a significant importance in mythology almost in every belief. It represents ‘power’. The one who holds the sun, owns the sovereignty. To conclude, the artist merges these two figures in order to give back her status to the goddess (Courtesy of Gallery x-ist)
In Seymen’s Homo Fragilis, a female figure floats in an nondescript abstract space while a male figure sits and lights her cigarette. She is illogical, he is fixed and sensical. It is the objects, the cigarette and the lighter, that bring them together, that make it clear that they acknowledge each other. These are not two separate bodies: they interact. What better way to visualize the tale of patriarchy than a woman turned upside down, getting help from a stable and assured gentleman in a suit. And, what better object to use than the cigarette, an object from an industry at the highest levels of ruinous capitalism and colonialism and therefore the epitome of upper middle class white status. (Excerpt from a text written by Nicole O’Rourke, Courtesy of Gallery Zilberman)
‘I bought all ‘simits’ off the two simit-seller men who had migrated from Ardahan to Istanbul. According to their calculation they might sell a maximum of 170 simits a day. So, I generously gave them an extra 170 YTL which is normally their total income for a day. I wanted them to do only one thing: to have ‘The Right of Laziness For One Day’. They were just two of the Kursidsh immigrants who try to cling to life in a city whose ground is ‘slippery’. In a city that they do not know well enough and with folk music that they were not familiar with, they were supposed to dance and have fun.’
You can watch the video from this link..
Funda Özgünaydın’s works can be interpreted as a critical confrontation on current social structures and life’s course. That is the reason why she focuses on socio political, ontological and existential issues in context of human condition against modern society and nature. In this sense, at first, she is interested in hierarchical relations and attitudes within devoted social layers. On the other hand, she searches for answers on how to represent a new perception on social progress visually and how this transformation can be painted. Her works’ unique characteristic show themselves in stylistic collage techniques and as in the conceptual manner, hybrid structures. (Exceprt from Marcus Graf)
Screen prints named "Alamet-i Farika" by Gülsün Karamustafa who produces works in various media such as painting, installation, performance and video, is based on the kitsch phenomenon she observed in 1981. It is shaped around the use of colors in pastel tones and the arabesque theme, which was often the subject of controversy during the period. (Courtesy of BüroSarıgedik)
Building No. 19 (A New Apartment), is the second piece of the series titled Güven Sitesi which the artist has been working on since 2017. Each apartment on the series brings together all the women who influenced the artist's practice from his childhood until today, through his cultural neighbour relations.
In his works, İlkhan Selçuk Erdoğan focuses on the concepts of “Equilibrium“ and “Spatial Segregation“ and transmits these “abstract” ve “intellectual” concepts to an unexpected visual forms and expression techniques. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and is currently working on projects in collaboration with leading Austrian academicians in art.
The artist turns engraving reproducibility, as well as the rich possibilities for expression that it offers, into an advantage in terms of color and material usage in his works. In his work Tent and Birds, the artist takes the principle of harmony and balance on the empty and full surfaces used into account. In his works figurines are in an abstract composition, and it is observed that the conception of form, transformed into visual elements of calligraphic elements, is dominant.
‘Objects and images I necessarily mingle with in everyday life, become the material of works on account of their meanings and positions in the common ground. Constructed on an analytical structure in close relation with the emotional/the sensorial, works transform into ironic and satirical statements. What lays behind this approach is the idea that while carrying the anxiety of the dark days ahead, staying critically responsive to the presence of the present in a joyful manner is a fairly good stand to take.’
İnci Eviner’s series ‘New Citizen’ includes a collection of her prints which were created during her 3-month visit to an artist residency program upon invitation by the Musee MAC/VAL, Vitry sur- Seine in 2009. These prints, created as follow- up works of her video installation named ‘New Citizen’, question the concepts of citizenship and identity. (Courtesy of Galeri Nev Istanbul)
In Işıl’s works the body is in the foreground. From time to time, although her focus is on the female body, this is an atmosphere that reminiscent of the depiction of a nightmare rather than a fascination object. When she uses the body she sometimes glorify it and sometimes exhibits as a part of grotesque fiction. In fact, when we question the concept of the body, we also question all the other concepts, such as curiosity, psychological and physical identity and a sense of unease.
The work of Joakim Allgulander is characterized by a conceptual base, combined with the skill of craft and a love of the practical process. His work demonstrates a curiosity and desire to explore different media and techniques. There’s existential content and a dynamic play with contrasts throughout Allgulander’s work; everything from natural and artificial, new and old, to more archetypical opposites such as light and darkness, and life and death. (Courtesy of Jealous Gallery)
The artist’s six-colored wood print is based on the screen shots from Godard’s film “Vivre sa vie” of 1962. The character Nana, whose portrayer Anna Karina has passed away recently, is a woman insisting on holding onto life. The cinematic plan in question is a document of the underground profession. However, the pictorial attempt is focused on Nana’s experience of her internal reality.
Kerem Ozan Bayraktar’s works are often made by computer simulations and graphics, videos, texts and objects.In general, he is interested in how things interact with each other, how they transform each other, how they became something behaving in the certain ways they do. The areas he is concerned with are mostly systems that change through time such as ecology, astronomy or economics but also includes fictional worlds in culture. “Popcorn” examines a daily temporal object in different layers. Popcorn on miniature pedestal create an effect that diminishes the bases on the one hand, and on the other hand exalts the popcorns and their everyday ordinaryness. (Courtesy of Sanatorium)
‘Belongings are not moveable with our consent, however, they simply move with us. It is like we were meant to carry them all along, even though they sometimes drag us down. My father is an Assyrian from Mardin whose family had been through Seyfo. My mother is a Greek Orthodox who grew up in Istanbul, and my grandmother is an Armenian whose family was slaughtered in the 1915 Armenian genocide. In my motherland, I perceive being a minority as the biggest possession that haunts people while they have to carry it with them throughout their lives. In this series, I tried to document the perception of my people as foreigners in their own country, as well as the feeling of belonging to my society as a foreigner – an ‘outsider’ among them.’
Mediha Didem Türemen produces works of two different kinds using photography and engraving. With a focus on depicting an imaginary timeframe which could not be captured by photography, In her work Homage To Albrecht Dürer the artist, who traces the wing figure which embraces the conceptual and mythological roles in her early works, interprets this work inspired by the work of Albrecht Dürer's Wing of a Blue Roller (1512). The first edition of woodcut print Homage To Albrecht Dürer, which is now a part of the permanent collection of the Albertina Museum, aims to establish a link through times using engraving reproducibility.
The idea of nature slowly taking back its own is the main focus in Olivia’s practice. She draws places and buildings in various states of takeover, with wilderness and nature purposefully creeping back in. Drawing the pervasive change encapsulates a moment, one that we will not get back as the course of deterioration continues. Olivia’s Jealous Prize print edition is now held in the Victoria & Albert Museum Permanent Print Collection. (Courtesy of Jealous Gallery)
Uluç was inspired by the traditional Turkish calligraphy and created a unique contemporary style by means of abstracting figures and forms. His works offered up a defiant sense of fantasy as it navigates the space between abstraction and representation; and often relied on rope imagery, calling to mind a wealth of conceptual associations. He used diverse materials not bounding his works to canvas painting. (Courtesy of Galeri Nev Ankara)
This series has been inspired by electronic device screens that continuously arrest our gaze. An image selected or customised by the user occupies the screen. It is called a “wallpaper” probably because it fills the space between the opening windows but it is not there merely as a decoration. When we simply stare at the screen, it briefly reminds us that the depth of life and existence is beyond the scope of our devices. It reminds us of our responsibilities, conflicts, passions and our future plans. This is why selecting a wallpaper requires great care.
"The Table/left" is an interactive work prepared by transferring special polymer paints on the photographic visual printed by hand using silkscreen method. The discovery of this work was realized through a collaborative work of art and engineering. The work appears to be a black paint field when there is no audience staring at it. It is visible only when an audience comes across it."
Seçkin Pirim’s works consist of numerous layers, followed by minimalistic language, and display variations of geometric forms. The artist’s way of transferring the qualities of his sculptures to paper works is fascinating. Works on paper are usually two dimensional. Pirim positions them on three-dimensional blocks and cuts them to reveal the forms he desires. Afterwards, the audience can only see the cut out which represents the negative form of the artist’s idea. (Courtesy of C24 Gallery)
Selma Gürbüz, who has created a unique world consisting of things like sorcerers, magicians, chimps and shaman rituals, is described by Ferit Edgü as “contemporary of both past and future”. In an interview with Kaan Kemerli at Timeout Istanbul in 2017, Selma Gürbüz explains: “I know eastern and western art well, but I do not feel a belonging to neither of them, I do not apprehend the distance or closeness between them, I have a modernist background because it is the first art education I have had.” (Courtesy of Galeri Nev Ankara)
Sinan Demirtaş describes the figure as an object that cannot be viewed from a single perspective. On a two dimensional surface, the figure is visible from many different planes (perspectives), both horizontal and vertical. Thus, we observe the figure horizontally and vertically, in a manner questioning its existence while documenting that moment in time. Photography or one photograph cannot capture this moment, since one would need many squares at horizontal and vertical levels. However, the work documents the situation and the existence of the figure in its details.
Since early 1990s, Vahap Avşar used photographic images from AND collection in his works. In 2010 Avşar procured the rights of AND’s exhaustive inventory. AND collection is a photographic archive of Turkey, at the late 1970s, giving clues about the economic, political and cultural life in Anatolia. The stories behind these photographic archive inspired the works of Vahap Avşar, who has been working on found imagery and issues of representation in printed materials such as posters, postcards and advertisements. He is participating the Printed Re-visited exhibition with a piece from this archive.
The paintings, sculptures, and balloons of Takashi Murakami are colorful and attractive, and accessible in their reference to lovable cartoon characters. Murakami uses his deep understanding of Western art to integrate his work into its structure; working from the inside to portray “Japanese-ness” as a tool to bring about revolution in the world of art. As an artist, Murakami questions the lines drawn between East and West, past and present, high art and popular culture.
Using her life events as inspiration for works ranging from painting, drawing, video and installation, to photography, needlework and sculpture, Tracey Emin’s art can be described as one of disclosure. Emin reveals her hopes, humiliations, failures and successes in candid (and at times excoriating) work that is frequently both tragic and humorous. Emin’s work has an immediacy and an often sexually provocative attitude that firmly locates her oeuvre within the tradition of feminist discourse.