Azade Kӧker

Istanbul I

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Azade Kӧker, Istanbul I, 2013, Mixed media on canvas, 170 x 250 cm. Art Jameel Collection. Photograph courtesy of the artist and The Zilberman Gallery.

Artwork Details

Artist

Azade Kӧker

Title

Istanbul I

Date

2014

Medium

Mixed Media on Canvas

Dimensions

170 x 500 cm

Credit Line

Art Jameel Collection

Work Description

The sprawling photographic collage Istanbul I is made from hundreds of photographs. Köker digitally adds small figures or animals onto a selection of photos, and then prints and cuts the images into different pieces. She applies delicate, transparent paper, bringing together different sections and imagery to create the whole collage. From afar, the pieces resolve as a unified image, and upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that each photograph has been carefully cut into the shape of human figures. She creates images of nature and cities inhabited by traces of human intervention, which she then deconstructs through repeating patterns on the surface. Through this layering and reworking of the surface, Köker disrupts the legibility of the image and denotes the similarities between her process and the traditional application of painting. 

Istanbul I is a panorama of the city’s landmarks, the domes and the minarets that dominate the old city’s skyline, in juxtaposition with the new skyscrapers that echo the development of the city. This work also explores notions of painting and what it means to be a painter in a hyper accelerated era. 

Artist Biography

Azade Kӧker (b.1949, Istanbul) lives and works between Berlin and Istanbul.

As an artist working with painting, sculpture, ceramic and photography, Azade Kӧker proposes that the inevitable survival mechanism is one based on hybridity, achieved through a discrepant, transparent and vulnerable subjectivity. She creates images that are a blend of nature and traces of human intervention. A professor since 1992, Azade formerly taught at the Braunschweig Technical University in Berlin, Germany. Her recent solo exhibitions include The Zilberman Gallery, Berlin (2018); The Zilberman Gallery, Istanbul (2013 & 2015); and Elzig Museum, Istanbul (2015). She has participated in numerous group exhibitions including Zilberman Gallery, Berlin (2016 & 2015); Kunstverein Konstanz, Germany (2015); and Istanbul Modern, Istanbul (2011). Her work is included in various public and corporate collections including The British Museum, London; Berlinische Gallery, Berlin; Elzig Museum of Contemporary Art, Istanbul. Her sculptures are on display in Curvy Brunnen, Berlin; Bundesgartenschau, Berlin; Frechen Museum, Düsseldorf; and Building of Turkish Embassy, Tokyo.

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