Cigdem Aky

Painting as science, i.e. minus everything that could be interpreted into it. Nothing figurative, nothing that could trigger associations in the audience, no metaphysics, but full control. Only shape and color and light (conditions). Painting as an experimental arrangement. Strictly according to a defined concept: in the middle a sharply defined upright bar, around it wide, emphatically executed brushstrokes. The sober surrounded by gestures; the level-headed alongside the impulsive. The timeless meets the fleeting and forms a lasting bond. A moment becomes eternity and opens up the possibility to investigate how the two antagonists correspond. Painting under laboratory conditions.

In acrylic and oil on cotton, the painter Cigdem Aky (* 1989, Munich) combines the three elements depth, structure and color, creating autonomous color spaces that are precise in their effect, precisely because of the absence of any reference options. Lack of reference leads to unambiguity, each work conveys an exactly defined feeling. The combination of a set geometric element with gestural components leads to a series of unpredictable dialogues. Every work is an experiment with an open result. With her paint application, Aky starts a process, the further course of which she cannot and does not want to control. She leaves color tones to themselves, which then study, evaluate and update each other.

Aky's concept of varying a certain setting again and again and thus exploring the possibilities, limits and conditions of a system is reminiscent of experimental arrangements in the field of music, such as Johann Sebastian Bach's "Art of the Fugue" or the "Well-Tempered Clavier". Here a constant musical theme is successively declined in different keys. The sheer endless variation reveals what emerges beyond material, structure and concept and which hovers over all of this: a characteristic combinatorial essence. An extract of essence and effect. In her series of experiments, the artist practices philosophy with a brush. Cigdem Aky paints meaning.

Hansjörg Fröhlich, January 2020

EDUCATION: Academy of Fine Arts Munich | State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe | DAAD Award

EXHIBITIONS:

2017
New Positions, Tristan Lorenz Gallery, Frankfurt am Main
Art Lake Constance, Tristan Lorenz Gallery Studio exhibition,
Munich
"Kopfkino" Wasserturm Dachau Munich
"Kein_ohne_" Organ Factory, Karlsruhe
Solo Exhibition  , Tristan Lorenz Gallery, Frankfurt

2016
Happy Little Paintings , Luis Leu, Karlsruhe
Color Me Blind , Kunsthalle MeWo, MemmingenArtists of the gallery Geschwisterraum, Karlsruhediploma show Untitled , SAdBK Karlsruhemasterstudent show, Kunstverein Mannheim

2015
22th Artists' Fair, Karlsruhe
The wickerwork of color , Studio Rose, Schondorf am Ammersee (solo show)
Kolorit , Geschwisterraum, Karlsruhe (solo show)
Besetzt , group show of the Ciao series, KarlsruheWinterjahresausstellung, Karlsruhe
Um Fünf , Kiosk, Munich

2014
Asia Contemprorary Art , Artpark Gallery, Karlsruhe

2013
REVIVAL OF THE DEAD ANGLE , class show Myriam Holme, Hall 6, Munich
KOLORO , annual exhibition AdBK, Munich Winter exhibition State Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe

2012
The Art of Your Neighbors , Municipal Gallery, Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm
23rd Auction AdBK Munich
WEARME YOU WHERE THE FIRE BURNS , annual exhibition AdBK Munich

2011
22nd auction AdBK Munich
I SEE WHAT YOU DON'T BLACK , annual exhibition AdBK Munich - sales exhibition at Target Partners, Munich
It also works without , class show, AdBK Munich

​2010
21st auction AdBK Munich