Young artist İsmail Burak Balcı’s solo exhibition titled “Domed Cistern: No Water, No Life” opened at Kuğulu Art Gallery. Curated by Prof. Dr. Kıymet Giray, the exhibition will continue until April 24.
Curator Prof. Dr. Kıymet Giray describes the exhibition with the following words: It is possible to define art as an effort to perceive and define the relationship between the inner and outer worlds of the individual. If a person clings to a lie with the relationship established between these two worlds, the water that has ensured the continuation of life for centuries accumulates on the walls of the stone walls of the cistern, defines the past and stores it and carries the past it stores to the future. The water that creates the life of the universe refers to the future with cisterns that determine that it is not possible to live without it.
In this context, İsmail Burak Balcı’s “Domed Cistern: No Water, No Life.” With his conceptual paintings, he tends to emphasize the vital relationship between water and man. He examines the vital issue of our century. The cistern, which protects the existence of water in and out of the universe, gains meanings parallel to man's own existence.
In his series "Domed Cistern: There Is No Life If There Is No Water", Balcı focuses on questioning the philosophical relationships between man's inward and outward perceptions in his paintings, which he loads with the imaginary reality and the dialogue between reality and duality. He examines how individual memory is shaped within social phenomena by transforming it into paintings with the perceptions of a narrative that progresses through metaphors reflecting realities.
At this stage, he defines the cistern form, which takes its place among the Seljuk and Ottoman building types by determining the forms and functional traces of its architectural elements, in line with the development of the Roman Period, which is the most important building examples of 12th century architecture, and by gaining forms within the architectural theories of Vitruvius and theories of geometry and becoming widespread, and by determining the functional traces of its architectural elements, while at the same time making readings on the trace of the transformation metaphor. At this stage, Balcı aims to keep the Kafkaeshk labyrinths of the transformation cycles that started with the modernization pains of the 19th century alive in the form of the concept of 'cistern', the philosophy that has continued with the inner and outer worlds of man over the centuries.
Then, he tries to examine the psychic processes, transformations, cycles, basic human values of individualization and alienation, which are the problems of his own century, the 21st century, with an analysis through pillared individuals and the 'Copenhagen Criteria' and Susan Cain's concepts of 'introversion-extroversion'. Balcı places Susan Cain's defense that introverted individuals are determinant in the deep thinking, observation and creative production processes among the foundations of his art: "The artist's introversion is the formation process of individual memory. In this process, the individual establishes a connection with the past, accumulates his experiences and shapes them with metaphors. Extroversion is the process of transferring this memory to society and merging with the collective memory."
The aim of the paintings in the series "Domed Cistern, No Water No Life" is not only to create a space of memory, but also to give this memory a form that can be shared and transformed. The Domed Cistern is a metaphorical space where individual memory meets collective memory. Here, both introversion and extroversion come together in the formation process of art. Individuals trapped in Kafkaesque labyrinths can turn into pillared people; but those who climb over the glass ceiling and board a ship can reach the freedom of the dome from the memory of the cistern."
İsmail Burak Balcı, "Domed Cistern, No Water No Life." series of paintings will make you confront the duality of reality and art of İsmail Burak Balcı and his art and focus on your own interpretations.
Source: https://m.aksam.com.tr/kultur-sanat/kubbeli-sarnic-su-yoksa-yasam-da-yoktur-sergisi-kugulu-sanat-galerisinde-acildi/haber-1559070