.artSümer is proud to present Gözde İlkin’s fifth solo exhibition at the gallery. Stand Alone and All Together is a series that stems from the artist’s production process for the exhibition currently on view at the MAC VAL Museum in the Vitry-Sur-Seine region in Paris, As the Roots Spoke the Cracks Deepen.
With Stand Alone and All Together, İlkin researches the boundaries of surfaces that represent and describe. The trees that are the departure point for the works in the exhibition are both used as materials that can leave stains and as metaphors. The artist takes the notion of trees being installed into the ground and the roots being layered on top of each other to refer to the vital process of how trees function as shelter, home, geography to other living beings. The stories of trees forming relationships of kinship, friendship and love all together trigger stories that serve as texts that embrace İlkin’s works.
In the installation, each fabric narrates a tree, each tree a geography, a life. The records that the artist kept in the process, which include naturally colored sheets of paper and sketches, accompany the installation.
Gözde İlkin (b. 1981, Kütahya, Turkey) completed her undergraduate degree from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University painting department in 2004 and her graduate degree from Marmara Fine Arts Faculty painting department in 2012. Solo shows include As the Roots Spoke the Cracks Deepen, MAC VAL Museum, Vitry-sur-Seine, Paris (2019); Organized Habitation, Galeri Paris-Beijing, Paris (2019); Found Landscape, Gypsum Gallery, New York (2018); Absent Demonstration, artSümer, İstanbul, (2017); The Trap, Gypsum Gallery, Cairo (2016); Stained Estate, Françoise Heitsch Gallery, Munich (2015) and Please Clear the Dance Floor!, artSümer, İstanbul (2010). Group exhibitions she participated in include unspeakable home, enchanting companions (curator: Derya Bayrakoğlu), Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe (2019); The Event of a Thread: Global Narratives in Textiles, (curators: Susanne Weiß, Inka Gressel and Öykü Özsoy), İstanbul Modern, İstanbul (2019); Home is Where the Heart is, Galerie Paris-Beijing, Paris, (2018); A Good Neighbour-On the Road, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2017); A Good Neighbour, 15th Istanbul Biennial (curator: Elmgreen and Dragset), Pera Museum, İstanbul (2017); Spaceliner (curator: Barbara Heinrich), Arter, İstanbul, (2015); Journey Wanderings in Contemporary Turkey, Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris, (2012). Upcoming shows include 13th Gwangju Biennial, South Korea (2020). The artist has participated in artist residencies at the MAC VAL Museum, Vitry-sur-Seine, Paris; Pioneer Works, New York; Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris and Künstlerhaus Bremen. Gözde İlkin lives and works in Istanbul.
