Ross Bleckner, one of the cornerstones of world art history, is at Sevil Dolmacı Art Gallery with Angels in Your Head, his first solo exhibition in Turkey.
New works of Ross Bleckner, who gained worldwide fame with his Memorials series, which he put forward as a reaction to the AIDS crisis that increased its effect in the mid-80s, and his entry into the literature as the only artist to open a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in the 90s, are in Turkey. We talked to Bleckner about his first solo exhibition in Turkey, Angels in Your Head.
How did the idea of opening an exhibition in Turkey and on the days of the biennial come about?
I have good memories of my Istanbul trip in the past and I always wanted to return. I spend a few months in Los Angeles during the winter, and Sevil Dolmacı visited my workshop in the winter, in February. He suggested an exhibition to me and it seemed like a great opportunity to me. As for the timing of the exhibition, that was the gallery’s decision.
Your works in the exhibition belong to 2022. What would you say about them if you compare them with the previous ones?
I am constantly going back and forth between painting techniques and styles. Every time I come back to a topic, the situation is a little different because I am at a different point in my life, both personally and artistically. The world is changing, the tables are changing too.
What are the characteristics of the paintings in this exhibition?
The exhibition includes 7 large paintings and some small paintings. Oil painting on canvas.
Most of the time I paint my own, so I have a mix that also includes beeswax, oil paint, mica powder, and other pigments. All of these paintings depict a state of transformation. They start with a floral motif, then the paint blurs and reworks until it finds new life.
How does it feel to be one of the cornerstones of world art history?
It would be hard to go to the studio every day and think about it. I really don’t think of such definitions at all. I just try to focus on the work in front of my eyes, be in the moment and make pictures that I find interesting.