Selçuk Demirel’s new solo exhibition titled Under a Tree is opening on Friday, September 24th and will be on view until the 30thof October 2021. Featuring the artist’s recent series that gives name to the exhibition, a small selection of his earlier works are also included in the show.
Completed in 2019, the series Under a Tree forms the backbone of the exhibition in which the artist creates fictional scenes beyond the physical space. Inspired by Chinese and Japanese etchings, these artworks realized with aquarelle on rice paper and applied on canvas with marouflage technique, are also new practices that the artist has experienced for the first time. In the landscape paintings that awaken the feeling of belonging to a world beyond time and space, and between reality and imagination, people or animals wander through thin, fragile branched forests and rivers. While the plain process of drawing thin trees evolves into dense or simple compositions by adding various details, the expression “under a tree” evokes on the one hand the relaxing, meditative and sheltering aspect of the relationship between human and nature, and the solitude of the humankind in its environment together with its desire of isolation on the other. The humor in Demirel’s works, hidden in various symbols of social realities such as freedom of thought, economical inequality, political oppressions and in the themes related to the nature, creates a universe which expands according to the audiences’ perception and knowledge. Demirel continues on his artistic journey by developing his creative world day by day with the details of his personal encounters and by working in collaboration with various writers from time to time. Thus, he continues to present new perspectives on the ideas, information and feelings, which surround us in these difficult times.
Selçuk Demirel’s new book, “Under a Tree” is recently published by Yapı Kredi Publications and will be launched with the opening of the exhibition. The book includes the artist’s new series some of which can be seen in the display, together with texts written on the artworks by Güven Turan and Uras Kızıl.
