Artlog

Mezze is proud to present “4//From Istanbul,” on view to the public on June 14 at the Inspiring Spaces Loft (14 East 4th Street, Suite 605, between Broadway & Lafayette) from noon till 5pm. As the title suggests, this exhibition will feature four young artists, all originally from or living in Istanbul. However, the title also refers to the constant coming and going that represents the history of Istanbul and its privileged place at the crossroads of trade routes between Europe and Asia. The artists in 4//From Istanbul exemplify the busy trade routes of our contemporary lives √¢‚Ǩ‚Äú each engaged in a different strand of globalized culture but also inevitably reflecting on the specific culture of their surroundings.

Hayal Pozanti’s stark black and white prints belong to a graphic sensibility that signals hip, sexy design around the world, but her imagery borrows from Turkish mythology, Ottoman miniatures and Turkish Kilim patterns. Bora Akinciturk√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s oil paintings take stylistic inspiration from canon of Modernism, but are emotionally immediate responses to the world around him. Graffiti artist Cagri, known as √¢‚Ǩ≈ìcins,√¢‚Ǩ¬ù is part of the now global hip-hop movement, and yet street art is necessarily local, with his works emerging from the interaction between his personal style, the aesthetics of graffiti art, and the specific urban spaces of Istanbul. Lastly, Ahmet Civelek, the youngest of the four, creates strikingly bright, abstract canvases. Open to interpretation, his paintings are also consciously in dialogue with Abstract Expressionism and the traditional Turkish practice of marbling, both of which balance control and chaos, in order to create compositions that are expressive but not literal.

This exhibition is co-curated by Mezze and guest curator Saisha Grayson, and is made possible by the generous support of co-sponsors Inspiring Spaces and The Moon and Stars Project.