NEWS: Artist turns family home in Turkey into icon

Artist turns family home in Turkey into icon

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkish-born French artist Sarkis has shown more than 500 exhibitions of conceptual art works all around the world. In his new show, 'An Icon,' he exhibits an iconic representation of his family home in Çaylak Street, in the Istanbul district of Şişli, using solid gold. 'Wherever I live, I can’t stay away from Istanbul. I exist with the language of this city,' he says

World renowned artist Sarkis Zabunyan has said that regardless of where his work takes him, he finds it impossible to remain away from Istanbul and his home on Çaylak Street, Şişli, where he was born.

“Wherever I live, I can’t stay away from Istanbul; I exist with the language of Istanbul,” Sarkis said, speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review in a recent interview. “Even though my mother and father died, I find them there when I open the door of the house on Çaylak Street,” he said.

It is not known if the house in Istanbul’s Şişli neighborhood, where he lived with his family, will be turned into a museum by the Culture Ministry but Sarkis always returns to the city where his roots are because he finds Istanbul uniquely inspiring.

Considered a leader in the contemporary art world and having shown more than 500 exhibitions all around the world during his 50-year career, Sarkis was not content with opening exhibitions one after another in Istanbul last year, so this season he has decided to hang another exhibition called “An Icon” at the Yapı Kredi Culture Center’s Kazım Taşkent Art Gallery in Taksim.

The exhibition, which is curated by Rene Block, in consultation with Melih Fereli, will run until Oct. 20 and will feature book signing events with Sarkis’ daughter Elvan Zabunyan, an art historian, putting her name to a book accompanying the exhibition called “From Him To Us – Ondan Bize,” published by Yapı Kredi Publications.

Calm brightness of solid gold

In this exhibition, Sarkis’ house on Çaylak Street is seen as a huge “icon” made of solid gold. The wood caps that lie around the solid gold like a carpet seem like motionless but give the impression that they will be closed suddenly and aired. “Yes the icon box remains in the middle for now but its covers imply that this icon does not belong here. As soon as the caps are closed, the icon will move because the exhibition is full of life,” Sarkis said.

He contrasts the currently hanging exhibition with last year’s “Site,” which he opened at the Istanbul Modern. “There were thousands of caps in that exhibition, there was a scream. It was a macro exhibition, but “An Icon” is a micro exhibition, it is calm and open to innovations. It will have new names as it becomes larger.”

The exhibition area is pretty dim, the brightness of the solid gold charms visitors while the strong wind effect created by ventilators on the ceiling and the gongs of an old wall clock take visitors to the endless spaces of time.

Sarkis said he created the artwork “An Icon” to highlight this sense of endless time.

While the mockup of Çaylak Street, made of solid gold, invites visitors to a tale-like world on the first floor, there is a very different atmosphere on the second floor. When you climb up stairs, you see neons and darkness that surrounds you. “Neons and darkness symbolize the dark years of World War II,” said Sarkis, adding, “During my career of 50 years, I have never organized a calm exhibition like this. I give an end to my last 25 years with this exhibition. But I find a new life with this icon on the other hand.”

Elvan’s view on her father

Seventy-two-year-old artist Sarkis spoke about the Çaylak Street during the interview. When asked if he wanted his house turned into a museum, he replied, “I kept the house in the same way it was when my mother was alive. I did not change the place of any object. Let Çaylak Street challenge time in its own way, I don’t want to interfere in it now.”

Speaking about the book that his daughter wrote about him, Sarkis said, “My daughter has never written anything about me so far. This is the first time. She wrote the book thanks to the insistence of the curator Block. Elvan had difficulties writing this book. She had a big conflict with her academic identity. Because it was her father she was writing about. I did not want her to be conflicted. When I saw that she was having difficulties, I asked her to stop but she continued and succeeded,” he said.