Ayla Turan
Ayla Turan
Working most often with wood, stone, granite, and marble, Ayla Turan labors with childlike innocence to expose the form a material intrinsically holds. Turan uses angular forms that are either completed or unfinished, leaving the viewer to interpret and complete them by tracing the forms back to the potential that the mass material holds. Turan says: “You think you are shaping the mass, but the material only allows you to shape it to a certain extent; it essentially preserves the form it desires.”
Avoiding interventions that contradict a material’s nature, the artist’s use of detail makes the viewer smile while awakening curiosity about the piece. While Turan is deeply involved with the notion of “power,” both conceptually and structurally, she demonstrates a pursuit of innocence peculiar to childhood. In works carried out in the past ten years, including The King & The Queen (2000), The Throne (2001), Apple Tree (2005), Bicycle (2007), Car (2007), as well as the Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, gondola, and ballerinas which she presented in her solo exhibition Fair Ground (2009), she depicts playful moments with tense and gloomy touches.
Turan’s sculptures fictionalize a universal language, overriding the class-related or cultural characteristics of the viewer. These works, which draw in the viewer at first glance, reveal images concerning the artist’s intellectual approach and world view with extended viewing.
Born in Germany in 1973, Ayla Turan graduated from Department of Sculpture at Mimar Sinan University. She opened her first personal exhibition in 2001 and has taken part in several group exhibitions and art fairs, including Contemporary Istanbul. She has continued her artwork by attending symposia in Turkey and abroad, in countries such as Germany, France, Hungary, Latvia, Bahrain, UAE, South Korea, Israel, Egypt, Italy, and India. The artist lives and works in Istanbul.
Working most often with wood, stone, granite, and marble, Ayla Turan labors with childlike innocence to expose the form a material intrinsically holds. Turan uses angular forms that are either completed or unfinished, leaving the viewer to interpret and complete them by tracing the forms back to the potential that the mass material holds. Turan says: “You think you are shaping the mass, but the material only allows you to shape it to a certain extent; it essentially preserves the form it desires.”
Avoiding interventions that contradict a material’s nature, the artist’s use of detail makes the viewer smile while awakening curiosity about the piece. While Turan is deeply involved with the notion of “power,” both conceptually and structurally, she demonstrates a pursuit of innocence peculiar to childhood. In works carried out in the past ten years, including The King & The Queen (2000), The Throne (2001), Apple Tree (2005), Bicycle (2007), Car (2007), as well as the Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, gondola, and ballerinas which she presented in her solo exhibition Fair Ground (2009), she depicts playful moments with tense and gloomy touches.
Turan’s sculptures fictionalize a universal language, overriding the class-related or cultural characteristics of the viewer. These works, which draw in the viewer at first glance, reveal images concerning the artist’s intellectual approach and world view with extended viewing.
Born in Germany in 1973, Ayla Turan graduated from Department of Sculpture at Mimar Sinan University. She opened her first personal exhibition in 2001 and has taken part in several group exhibitions and art fairs, including Contemporary Istanbul. She has continued her artwork by attending symposia in Turkey and abroad, in countries such as Germany, France, Hungary, Latvia, Bahrain, UAE, South Korea, Israel, Egypt, Italy, and India. The artist lives and works in Istanbul.