ISTANBUL.- Anna Laudel Contemporary is presenting a solo exhibition by Gazi Sansoy, that brings together a selection of his thought-provoking paintings produced between 2008-2018. Gazi Sansoy comes from an established family known for their involvement with political satire during the late Ottoman Empire. Inspired by his satirist grandfathers, Sansoy created his unique critical painting approach and considered as one of the few sharp and witty satirists of his time with his multilayer works, criticising late Ottoman cultural heritage as well as West European civilisation and visual arts.
Opened on Thursday, January 11, Epochs features Sansoy’s works produced in the last decade under 5 subtittles.
“Nude and Covered Up Tales / Arabex” includes the works of the artist produced between 2008-2010 that combine the photos taken by him or the images he saw in various media channels with his own painting techniques. In “Who are we?”, Sansoy blends contemporary human figures with Levni’s miniatures, the famous painter of the Tulip Era in Ottoman History and in “Faceless”, inspired by post-Renaissance West European painting, the artist presents that tradition with a contemporary and fresh point of view. The artworks in these two sections are produced simultaneously between 2010-2015 and followed by “Divine Milk” and “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, Istanbul, Dervishes” series in which Sansoy makes references to his family history.
In addition to the political criticism embedded in his works, Sansoy remarkably stands out with his absurd interventions applied in traditional painting techniques, inviting the viewer to think and reconsider the classical history of art.
The exhibition also features a short video portrait of Gazi Sansoy, filmed by Balamir Nazlıca. Nazlıca is a photographer, video artist and composer, filming video portraits of contemporary artists in their studios under the name of “Unconcealment”. Sansoy’s portrait aims to see through the eyes of the artist and his mood in the moment of his artistic calling without any intervention. “Unconcealment” films of Nazlıca presents the poetic journey of the artists, unconcealing their artistic spirit.
Epochs is held across three floors of exhibition space at Anna Laudel Contemporary in Istanbul until 16 February 2018.
Born in 1968 in Istanbul, Gazi Sansoy graduated from Marmara University Fine Arts Faculty majoring in graphic in 1993. In 1996 he had his masters degree under the supervision of Mustafa Aslıer. He founded and managed Ütopya Platform Art Gallery in between 2007 and 2015.
Most of his works reflect a unique language of painting where he applies absurd interventions to traditional works, searching for a compromise between contemporary and tradition. In his recent works, the influence of Levni, the famous artists of Tulip Era, is widely seen. There are three main figure groups in these works of Sansoy: the images of Levni which construct the main body of his works; the figures of the famous painters of the Western painting tradition and contemporary, erotic, female figures taken from internet.
He is known by his multilayered, big size paintings, produced by hundreds of small figures. In these thought-provoking paintings, he remarkably compares Levni's figures with the figures of artists like Rembrandt on the same scale and compares the two rival civilizations both in terms of art history and socio-cultural aspect.
The works of the artist over the last three years refer to family history. Sansoy is the main source of inspiration in his recent studies of artist and his works of Müderris Ziya Bey, who draw attention to the political satire in the Ottoman period.
Sansoy has participated in a large number of solo and group exhibitions both in Turkey and abroad and continues to work at his workshop in Kızıltoprak.
