News » Salı Market – Ordinary Perfection

Gallery Apel hosts “Salı Market” exhibition by Şakir Gökçebağ, including the photography of Salı Market, which has recently moved to its new space.  The exhibition opening of the artist, based in Germany, is on 24 October 2009.  The exhibition can be visited until 5 December.

An article on “Salı Market” by Işın Önol:

All Şakir Gökçebağ’s works have a common characteristic although they seem completely different from each other at first sight:  The ironic transformation of the objects.  Gökçebağ transforms the objects of everyday life, fruits and vegetables without losing their nature, he changes them and includes in his world.  When this transformation, the new structuring of things is presented in 3D form as an installation by the artist, the audience experience the surprise live and is given the chance to realize that it is not an optical illusion at all, so enjoy the irony of it and the change it brings forth.

In Cuttemporary Art series, the installation is presented on photos, but this time since the audience and the installation do not share the same time interval, the fact that there is an objective in between and the possibility of digital modifications process, the audience doubts about the illusion created.  Photomontage, almost having a history as old as photography and digital modifications of today has killed the trust that photography reflects the reality.  Moreover, the impressing effects of this kind of images are lost because of their wide and fast circulation on the Internet.  Depending on this image information of today, perhaps the photography of fruits created by Gökçebağ in Cuttemporary Art series is not striking at first sight; could give the impression of only a tasteful graphical imagery, simply gathered together from the fragments of different images.  However after the first glance, when the onlooker pays more attention to the images, s/he realizes that it is not the images but the real objects, fruits and vegetables are cut into pieces with almost an impossible delicacy and perfection and then brought together in a new structure.  Photos are the documentation of temporary installation of the objects, removed from their organic forms for a short while.

Market Tents series is again a documentation of “installation”, composed of photos that are not digitally modified, but this time installations are not created by Gökçebağ, rather found by him.  Gökçebağ defines these images with his ironic approach as “ready-made installations”. Salı Market is the most famous and the biggest market in İstanbul.  Market has recently “arranged” again by the council but has lost its original structure.  These photos that Gökçebağ has been working on for 5 years, were taken before the new arrangement of the market, therefore they are beyond being only “ready-made installations”, they transform into historical documentation.

Separated from the market context, market tents comes across as a texture and when combined with re-structured fruits and vegetables, again detached from their original context, Gökçebağ’s “Market Salı” forms an ironic and surprising language.