Muse Contemporary exhibits dynamic sculptural artworks at Contemporary Istanbul 2022

The 17th edition of Contemporary Istanbul was animated with many mediums of art. The illustrious fair, held from September 17 to September 22, 2022, spruced up the Turkish city with global participation from 65 contemporary art galleries and initiatives and witnessed the incredible participation of 50,000 visitors. The art fair held at Tersane Istanbul, the historic Ottoman shipyard on the Golden Horn, saw the sponsored support of Akbank, a major privately-owned bank in Turkey. Speaking volumes through the common language of tasteful creative expression in the form of engaging artworks and sculptures was Turkey-based Muse Contemporary. Founded by Ayse Pinar Akalin in 2013, the art gallery brings together emerging and established artists to present a curated selection of intriguing artworks. “Art is the nutrition of the soul. Artists observe the world, channel it through their own imagination and show it back to us from a different perspective,” says Akalin. For the art fair, Muse Contemporary brought together masterful artists such as Jake Michael Singer, Jeff Robb, Laurence Jenk and Canan Savaş to create a flamboyant exposition of avant-garde artworks and sculptures.

South-Africa-based multidisciplinary artist Jake Michael Singer, exhibited sculptures from his ‘Murmuration Series.’ Singer worked with his team and crafted awe-inspiring sculptures using traditional thatching techniques on security fencing material in marine-grade stainless steel. The artist amalgamated small pieces of steel into a coherent whole, visually portraying the metamorphic forms inspired by the classical Greek sculpture ‘The Nike of Samothrace’ currently housed in Louvre, Paris. The resulting sculptural artworks bear semblance to the swifts and swirls of a dancer, a gushing wave, an avian in flight and even the ambiguous look of a phoenix, all woven together with the singular narrative of ‘emergent behaviour.’ The South-African artist. fabricated the sinuous sculptures with the paradoxical vision of different verses in stories and time, juxtaposing it to the present-day development of artificial intelligence, robotics and technology. The powerful artworks bore a resonating sense of achievement through transcendence, from humble materials used in security fencing to the profound feeling of freedom and flight.

“Consciously or subconsciously, we make a connection with the artwork and that enables us to face ourselves and our emotions. For me, good art speaks to your heart and to your mind," says Akalin. French artist and sculptor Lawrence Jenk presented her sculptures, redolent of her childhood memories of confit and candy wrappers. Based in Vallauris, France, Jenk has been creating medium-defying artworks since the 90s, implementing her signature Wrapping Candy sculptures. For Muse Contemporary’s exposition, Jenk displayed her ‘Wrapping Bonbon Peint Rouge Noir Blue’ along with different colours of ‘Wrapping Candy’ sculptures. The artist used bright colours, varying sizes and contrasting materials such as bronze, plexiglass, aluminium, marble, and authentic Murano glass from Italy to create the life-size candy wrappers that marry simplicity and universality. Her art depicts a common emotion of reminiscence that observers can easily resonate with. While candy wrappers remain Jenk’s favourite subject, she also experiments with other materials and forms to address pressing socio-cultural and environmental issues through art.

Accompanying Jenk and Singer’s sculptures were the photographic works of the multimedia artist Jeff Robb. Best known for his lenticular photography focused on the female nude alongside abstract forms in space, the artist beautifully captures the essence of natural shapes, forms, curves, and crevices observed in nature and humanity. For Contemporary Istanbul, Robb presented his photographic artworks— ‘Unnatural Causes XXIV,’ ‘Rectangle II,’ ‘Oval III’ and ‘Night Fall V,’ among others. The artist is often observed channelling a three-dimensional sensibility that is human-centric and consistently in a perpetual state of transition. The photographic accounts that Robb directs, praise the female form while offering viewers the thrill of visual stimuli. Even though the female form has been a constant subject throughout art history, Robb tends to shift his approach in terms of depiction. For instance, in his photograph titled ‘Unnatural Causes XXIV,’ the viewers initially come across a shimmering wall of two-dimensional boxes which host certain women fashioned in twisted forms and shapes. However, on closer inspection, the sensational curves, the narrowing and widening boxes, the rotating models and the swirling clothes, do not go unnoticed.

Lastly, Turkish artist Canan Savaş presented a series of abstract artworks in vibrant contrasts and protruding shapes at the Muse Contemporary. Savaş is often seen establishing a dialogue between the natural and the unnatural through materials and forms. She creates paintings, glass art and engravings to assert a collective conscious design capturing moments.

With every passing edition, Contemporary Istanbul evolves to an open art platform that not only unites global artists to speak through a creative medium, but also contributes to the rich cultural context of Istanbul. Muse Contemporary offers a gallery space and an online platform to promote contemporary art. Through Contemporary Istanbul 2022, the art gallery aims at facilitating collaborations between artists, galleries and collectors globally while helping the art fair shape the future of art and design.