Element Art Space is pleased to announce and be the first gallery in Singapore to present a solo exhibition of a Turkish artist. The show, “Blood and Memory”, by Volkan Diyaroglu will consist of 13 paintings and be on view from 14 March – 20 April 2014.
Many people have forgotten that Turkey is in fact located in Asia Minor, more precisely in Western Asia, and holds one of the oldest, richest and most diverse history in the world. Its culture today reflects remnants from its prehistoric Anatolia combined with Ottoman and Western culture traditions which results in a “modern” Western state that still maintains traditional religious and historical values. Their influence has spread all the way to Greater Asia and is easily relatable to the audience in South East Asia.
The title of the exhibition, “Blood and Memory”, references Greco-Roman cultures from his birthplace on the shores of the Black Sea and alludes to the divergence between the artist’s personal memories and how they are revealed through his work. Memory, when it calls up the very history of the artist’s own trajectory, through the introduction of remnants of his past work (his followers can trace the passages of his artistic itinerary in many of the paintings on exhibition here and revisit very significant moments in his art). It is also a testimony because the paintings are timeless, but things imposed on canvas are form the exact time when they were cast onto it and attempt to serve as an anchor to reality and proclaim that in the midst of so much chaos, a door can exist that helps us transcend it. In the end, however, it all turns into blood spurting from the brushes of an artist through whom litres upon litres of paint flow, leaving the cosmic in ruins. The exhibition “Blood and Memory” consists of 13 paintings, and it will run until April 20, 2014.
VOLKAN DIYAROGLU Volkan Diyaroglu (b. 1982, Turkey) received his education from Mimar Sinan University and San Carlos Faculty of Fine Arts, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. Diyaroglu has had solo exhibitions in Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and received scholarships and artist residencies in Europe. His works can be found in major collections such as the Coca Cola Foundation, The Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art (Turkey), National Museum of George Enescu (Romania) and more.
Element Art Space The gallery first opened in October 2009 under the mentorship of Chua Soobin–one of the most prominent gallerists in South East Asia and was the first to introduce avant-garde Chinese art to the region. Initially named S.Bin Art Plus, the gallery changed its name to Element Art Space in 2011. Drawing from Soobin’s more than 20 years of experience in the art industry, the gallery’s aim remains consistent: to promote great and innovative artists from South East Asia and provide exchange and dialogue with artists, galleries and collectors from throughout the world. The gallery also offers residencies to a highly selected number of emerging artists from the region. The gallery’s inaugural exhibition, “Harmony,” featured the works of 33 painters and sculptors from throughout the world, many of which have never been displayed to the Singaporean public before–marble sculpture by Fernando Botero and gold-plated sculpture by Marc Quinn just to name a few. Following this grand entrance to the Singapore art scene, the gallery continues to be the advocate for compelling and challenging contemporary work by today’s most exciting emerging and mid-career artists.
Element Art Space
Raffles Hotel Arcade, 328 North Bridge Road #02-13, Singapore 188719
Tel: +65 6883 2001 Fax: +65 6883 2707
Email: stephanie@elementartspace.com
