Mixer is pleased to present Gurur Birsin's first solo exhibition, “The Wreck of Time.” The exhibition can be viewed at Mixer's main gallery space between September 10 and October 23.

“The Wreck of Time” brings together the peinture works that make up a large part of Gurur Birsin’s artistic practice, as well as his drawings and an engraving work. In addition to the technical details of the artist's works in the exhibition, abandoned spaces, perceived as pessimistic at first glance, stand out. Even though the paintings are independent of each other, the overall impression of the exhibition is reminiscent of a post-disaster scenario. In images whose time and place cannot be defined, we occasionally encounter objects and people. Each painting can be viewed as parts of a movie with no specific narrative outside the ordinary. The pessimistic tones, ruins, debris and derelict structures that stand out in the paintings express the projection of human perception and mood rather than the description of an event. At the center of Gurur Birsin’s paintings are the social and political atmosphere that today's people are exposed to, the common negative emotions caused by the wrongful practices of authorities over individuals and cities, and the subsequent unknown end. However, Birsin offers hope for the future with serenity and light, treating them with technical details equal to the uneasy atmosphere created by obscurity and destruction in the paintings.

Another technically striking element in both the works and designs of Gurur Birsin is the proximity to engraving. The effect of engraving, which the artist also focuses on in his academic works, is evident in all his works. The technical possibilities provided by engraving and the meticulous working practice it requires show their effects with the limited color palette and sharp structural solutions in Gurur Birsin's exhibited works.

Gurur Birsin's first solo exhibition, “Wreck of Time,” can be viewed between September 10 and October 23 at Mixer's main gallery.

About Gurur Birsin:

Born in 1992 in Tekirdağ, Gurur Birsin completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at the Painting Department of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. Birsin interprets the traditional and current states of landscape painting in search of a balance while focusing on revealing the emotions hidden in the deepest part of the human soul through the undefined spaces that form the focal point of his paintings. Ruins, derelict buildings, and ancient city motifs that we often encounter in the works of the artist can be read as romantic indicators that directly refer to the common depression, anxiety, and hopelessness that our age has created. In these works, which are reminiscent of feelings of deep loneliness, silence, and contemplation, the objective reality of nature is reinterpreted in a melancholic style in order to evoke the transience of life, and death. Birsin, who mostly works with oil painting, also uses the technical potential of print painting. Gurur Birsin, who took part in the Olympos Exhibitions II (2021) curated by Taner Ceylan, lives and works in Istanbul. 

Photo: Nazlı Erdemirel