A New Selection from the Elgiz Collection: Faces & Masks
26 January - 15 April 2016
For the first exhibition of the new year, the Elgiz Museum presents ‘Faces & Masks’ from the collection between 26 January and 15 April 2016. The exhibition ‘Faces & Masks’ is a real and figurative exploration of the private and social identities of human beings around the themes of fame, gender, death and childhood. In this special selection, the museum's Temporary Exhibition and Mezzanine spaces present both familiar works and new additions to the collection: paintings, sculpture, video and photography.
This exhibition shows women, men, children and animals in universal and/or psychological spaces. Our ‘faces’ and ‘masks’, which are private to us and which we project to the outside, can exist at the same time. The works can be considered individually or collectively as complex identities. As soon as we enter the museum, we are greeted on one side by Thomas Houseago's bronze mask titled ‘Roman Masks II’, who learned at the age of six that his father was schizophrenic, and on the other side by David LaChapelle's ‘Uma Thurman; Gossip’ with her red lipstick and colourful eyes, which stands out with hyperrealist elements.
While visiting the exhibition, Gülsün Karamustafa's six-minute video ‘The Staircase’ reminds us of both the nostalgic face of old Istanbul and the fate of the 19th century French Jewish Camondo family in Auschwitz in the art nouveau Camondo Stairs in the old European neighbourhood of Karaköy. In addition, the melody played by Roma children unites historical and contemporary Istanbul.
On the mezzanine floor, the offices display some of the first works of art purchased by the Elgiz family in the 1980s. On this floor, we see the social realist, sad Anatolian woman portrait of Nuri İyem, the master of modern Turkish painting, and the German artist NERAM's ‘Helmut, Smoking in Public’ depicts former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt smoking a cigarette, a habit he could not give up until his 90s.
The artists of all the works shown in this exhibition are; Alaeddin Aksoy, Ebru Alpagut, Tomur Atagök, Mahmut Aydın, Kezban Arca Batıbeki, Bedri Baykam, Ramazan Bayrakoğlu, Hüseyin Bilişik, Tuncay Deniz, Gürdal Duyar, Burhan Doğançay, Saim Gökhan Ercan, Eric Fischl, Gilbert and George, Mehmet Güleryüz, Haşim Nur Gürel, Hakan Gürsoytrak, Thomas Houseago, Nuri İyem, Çerkez Karadağ, Gülsün Karamustafa, Komet, Danielle Kwaaitaal, David LaChapelle, Levent Morgök, Fikret Mualla, NERAM, İbrahim Örs, İrfan Onürmen, İhsan Oturmak, Wolfgang Petrick, Neriman Polat, Alex Prager, Hande Şekerciler, Cindy Sherman, Hale Tenger, Yunus Tonkuş, Alp Tamer Ulukılıç, Xavier Veilhan, Halil Vurucuoğlu, Pınar Yolaçan and Şenol Yorozlu.
‘Faces & Masks’ will be on view from 26 January to 15 April 2016.
Soldan sağa: Cindy Sherman, İhsan Oturmak, Hale Tenger, Bedri Baykam, Gilbert and George
Soldan sağa: Mahmut Aydın, Gülsün Karamustafa, Yunus Tonkuş
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