"Debut" is a fresh start. "Debut" tells us there is more to come. "Debut" means briefly summarize and faintly predict what will or is going on in the chaotic hands of Mr. Erkut Terliksiz who is the sujet-du-jour with a selection of his new paintings hung on the gallery walls. These new works are bigger, more defined, and more mature then the previous shows. Yet they do carry his sensibilities on radical dream states, and in your face depiction of emotion, imbued with a certain "beauty" inherent in his works since his early days. The power still carries on here but now they are clearly more gentle and subtle. The artist still prefers to work from his house, thus when you go visit his painterly crowded home-atelier it is rather uncomfortable to witness these shiny new paintings leaning randomly against walls (walls are covered with some sort of an unsettling pink/green wallpaper), thrown on the floor, sitting on a amalgamation of tables and chairs, on top of each other in a rather chaotic state. The discomfort comes from the apparent lack of respect that he seems to have for his oeuvres. The visit is such an unsettling experience, seeing the artist unknowingly step on some of his own works while walking towards the computer seems almost normal. Actually, Erkut's stance on these paintings is that he takes them lightly, as everyday chores, as obstacles, as things to kneel on here and there, as things to mutilate now and then. The act of painting is a continuation of his daily routine, akin to a breath of air and sometimes he coughs loudly, only to take a deep breath again. When he does this, rest assured that he can be the most volatile assassin of all: just as you thought the painting is finished and touches your heart, he will attack the painting with patches of color; covering most of what you thought was "beautiful", he will restart with an assured grin on his face. This brings us to the ever mutating subject of "beauty". These works here encompass a certain disregard for beauty at first sight but then slowly reveal their inner workings and the secret hexagonal emotions they contain. The works communicates on many levels whether you are close or at a distance from the surface, whether you look at them in pairs or as series, or when you isolate them in your hands. They communicate not through obvious references that catch your eye, but rather they slowly start to whisper in your ear their innate narrative or could we say "their meaning". The amorphous figurines roll over green hills, they blink, they scream, they cry. Like us, they hide the intentions of their actions only revealing glimmers of their possible emotional states. Some of the resulting curious facial expressions can be half sneezing/ half puzzled, half angry/ half asleep, half in love/ half bored: never the exact opposites, but surreal derivatives resulting in a maelstrom of feelings sending complex messages to the beholder. It's Terliksiz's fearless insistence on these amorphous figures, pastoral settings, together with his unfashionable color palette since day one, not to mention his disregard for a certain style or fad which makes him one of the unique voices of contemporary illustration and possibly the newest dearest son of the art world. We will obviously see more coming from him and "debut" is a fresh start indeed.
Fatih Kızılgök