The role and perception of the traditional landscape in contemporary art is in a flux parallel with developments in technology and evolutions in culture. The body of works in the exhibit "Virtual Paradise" is a contemporary reflection on the tradition of romanticized landscapes acting as messengers of such change.
Daily the urbanite is bombarded with repetitively similar vistas and like it or not, one begins to imbue these icons with subjective definitions. The source of the works shown can be seen as a personal attempt to excavate a new vision from these empirical virtual icons loaded with subjective meaning. The aim is not only to show works which support or validate such a thought but also to offer possible alternatives. Although this two-sided argument could be perceived to be at odds or at the very least surprising, it can be readily seen that the discussion is an attempt to both question pictorial laws and to carry these concerns on to a philosophical platform. It could be argued that in terms of implementation the transition from a traditionalist stance to a conceptual platform could not be accomplished through any other medium other than painting.
In the simplest terms these paintings reflect views from outside our windows, places we pass by daily, the routine blurred view of the western subconscious, a computer monitor, an iconic artifact from the "technical difficulties" period of general TV - this is an attempt to illustrate the depths of the modern city-dweller's soul through familiar landscapes.
The question that needs to be asked at this point is:
We are part of the city that we live in and our general environment, but what part do we play?
Today's city-dweller, under the rapid offensive of the city itself and the accompanying demands of technology, has become a cog, if not a product of the city itself. This construct seems to overlook the unshakeable bond between the limitless power of nature and the unfathomable depths of the human spirit. The desire to seek the depths, beyond the façade, is a natural reaction to daily life in a contemporary city. Therefore these paintings are the result of a search, via a tradition of painting, in the metaphysical realm for personal symbolism.
Descartes provides an ideal reference for this discourse in his comparison of philosophy to a tree. The trunk of the tree reflects the discipline of physics; the branches reflect other supporting fields of science. These are the portions that we are able to comprehend with our senses. He then draws our attention to the parts that are not visible, the roots, which he defines as symbolizing meta-physics; an unperceivable presence which develops outside of our consciousness. This theory, though in itself contradictory, could be accepted as an incorporeal argument for the depiction of nature in art.
"Sanal Cennet (Virtual Paradise)" is the Turkish translation of the wallpaper called "Bliss" that is commonly found in the Windows operating system; it is also the starting point for the show, a virtual reflection of the hidden paradise in metaphysical terms.
19/09/2007 Emre TANDIRLI