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PRESS RELEASE

Belkis Balpinar "Red Sun"

EXHIBITION: 7th February - 9th March, 2019

PRIVATE VIEW: 6th February 2019, 6pm - 8:30pm

VENUE: 50 Golborne Road, W10 5PR London

Belkis Balpinar (1941 Eskisehir, Turkey) is a textile specialist, a writer and researcher, and an artist. Graduated from the Textile Department of Istanbul Fine Arts Academy, the former curator atThe Turkish and Islamic Museum in Istanbul has been creating textile artworks for the last 25 years, working collaboratively with the same master weavers.

A pioneer in her field, she has overcome traditional rules regarding weaving techniques, iconography and format treatment. Doing so, she has projected an ancient skill into the realm of contemporary art. Her works feature in prominent art collections worldwide including the World Bank, Al Gore or Muccia Prada’s.

“Red Sun” includes unique works of art in which Belkis Balpinar interweaves existential ideas about the universe with threads, colour and texture. Tackling motifs related to cosmology and weather phenomena, her unique visual language combines age-old techniques with contemporary thought and science. The selected seven artworks celebrate the ancient skill of weaving that has been based in Anatolia for 12000 years which provides the sense of a time that goes beyond our own existence, making it a potent medium to portray the planets, suns, storms that interest the artist. The human hand underlines how culture informs the reading of the bigger world around us, the relationship between the micro and macro.

The pieces selected for the exhibition demonstrate the various strategies the artist uses to express her topics: Lightning follows the usual long rectangular shape of kilims; The dynamism of the patterns and the complex matrix of the layer of wool give the work a sense of tension while the simple pinning of the textile on the wall gives it fluidity.

In Red Sun - from which the title of the show derives - the artist extends what is traditionally the shape of a circle rug into the space beyond its edge on one side, which brings a sense of movement to the piece.
Red Planet gives way to unbridled and thick wool texture that brings uncanniness to the piece inducing the fascination that we have had and still have towards the planet Mars.

In Global Unwarming, she has left part of the background untouched during the weaving process, making single threads visible. When light falls upon the revealed threads, they cast a shadow on the wall, formulating another layer and compositional deepness. A beautiful idea that makes us reflect on the solutions we do have now to tackle what is an existential threat to humanity.

BIOGRAPHY

Balpinar lives and works since 2006 in Bodrum, Turkey.

EDUCATION

1963 Textile, Istanbul Fine Arts Academy

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2019

50 Golborne Gallery, London

Ethan Cohen Gallery, New York

2018
Dokuma-ma / Un-weave, Anna Laudel Contemporary, Istanbul
Pop Degil Op, Plato Sanat, Istanbul

2016
Olası Doku-n-malar, Casa dell’Arte, Bodrum

2015
Kare Art Gallery, Istanbul

2013
Mine Art Gallery, Bodrum

2012
Çıragan Palace Kempinsky Art Gallery, Istanbul

2011
La Fontaine Art Center, Bahrain

2010
Krasnye Holmy Gallery, Russia 2009
Ekavart Gallery, Istanbul
Gallery 44A, Istanbul

2007
Cankarjev Dom CD Gallery, Ljubljana

2005
Ginza-Fijuya Gallery, Tokyo 2004
G-Art Art Gallery, Istanbul

2003
Port Art Gallery, Göcek

2002
Turkish – Japan Foundation Cultural Center, Ankara

2000
Galleria Nilufar, Milano

1995
Milli Resurans Art Gallery, Istanbul

1994
Gallery Tarkett, Stockholm

1993
Turquoise Carpet Gallery, New York

1990
Full Circle Gallery, Washington
W.P.A. Gallery, Princeton

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