Sculptor Akbar Sürsal presents his works, which he calls "Urban Layers", to art lovers on November 16 at ARTGALERIM in Karaköy. The works, all of which are created with recycling materials, open up to multilateralism both in form and content. The exhibition will be open to visitors until December 9, 2023.
We are always after images in the cities where we live with squares, streets, historical structures and a lot of buildings added to them. Each of us watches the flowing life from our own point of view and we pass through the streets of the city with completely different impressions every time.
We do not question the structures loaded with layers, such as clothes passed on top of each other, whether they fit or not. Akbar Sürsal invites us to a personal image journey under our own guidance with the intricate forms he puts in front of us in his exhibition called "Urban Layers".
The Forms He Creates Draw the Audience Into Their Stories
The artist was inspired by John Berger, who said, "Decant is what holds everything together“ with his works called ”Urban Layers". And with every glance at the works exhibited by Sürsal, we visualize our own story one more layer.
"Urban Layers" is a series of works in which the artist transforms the illustrations that he has intricately stacked by evaluating the recycling materials into sculptures with bold and dominant colors by embodying them. When viewed as a whole, it highlights a symbolic fiction.
This series of Sürsal, which uses polyurethane derivatives and unusual materials in its works, is light enough to contrast with its large dimensions.
Sürsal presents countless story materials to its audience, intertwined with objects that it sometimes deliberately, sometimes intuitively places inside the Urban Layers. Rather than being a storyteller, he prefers to draw the audience into his own stories with the forms he creates.
About Akbar Sursal
Akbar Sürsal was born in Istanbul in 1971 and graduated from the Sculpture Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Anadolu University in 1994. The artist participated in various sculpture workshops for his professional development at Wichita State University in the USA, and continued his work in the advertising industry between Dec 1997 and 2001, in Skala, Artist and Art Life magazines between Dec 2001 and Dec 2007, and then in post production as a re-touch artist.
Sürsal, who attended the Master's program in Art Theory and Criticism at Işık University Institute of Social Sciences Department of Art Science between 2009 and 2010, Prof. Halil Painting from the Mediterranean and Asst. Assoc. He took Sculpture lessons from Bülent Çınar. Having completed his Master's Thesis on the topic “An Analogy between El Greco and Francis Bacon for the Deformation Principle in the Context of Being and Time”, the artist has also participated in many art seminars.
The artist is still making relief, object and lighting designs in addition to sculpture and painting works in his own workshop in Istanbul, he is also producing custom-made designs for the construction sector.
Publications
- Akbar Sürsal, ”Julia Fullerton-Batten", a conversation on the concepts of being and time, Academy Art, Issue: 2, p. 32-33 (2010)
- Akbar Sürsal, ”On the Time Jump in Francis Bacon", Art Art Kunst, p. 12-13 (2011)
Exhibitions
- Gallery Selvin Sculpture Exhibition 2019
- Art Contact Fair, Istanbul 2022
- Akeramos Art Center, Bursa 2023
Projects
- YBM Design-Faruk Hospital, Northern Iraq. 26x3.55 m glass lowering Water-Themed Composition. December 2012.< / li>
- YBM Design-Entes. 110x560 cm glass lowering wall panel work. October 2013.< / li>
- TOSB-Social Facilities. 20x9 m, Birds Relief Work with the Theme of Freedom. July 2016.< / li>
- It's Good that There is a Uskudar- Combines Art For a Barrier-Free Life Project: Artistic works made using recycling materials in garden, social areas within the scope of the project. May 2017.< / li>
- Maximum Contact-Work on hotel room wall accessories, Antalya. November 2018.< / li>
- Istanbul Surgical Hospital- Evil Eye Bead Lighting Study. May 2019.< / li>
- Ataköy Mansions- 4x150x370 cm Geometric Relief Work. 10x65x300 cm Triangular Relief Work. September 2019.< / li>
Photo / Video Gallery
