Taner Ceylan. We now must say good-bye

Date:

Thursday, 8 October 2015 to Saturday, 31 October 2015

Paul Kasmin Gallery is pleased to present We now must say goodbye, Taner Ceylan’s second solo-exhibition, on view at 297 10th Avenue from October 8 – October 31, 2015. The exhibition examines authorship in portraiture, and features two new portrait paintings and 10 drawings inspired by the authoritative work Princess de Broglie, 1851-53 by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.

Influenced by the words of playwright Oscar Wilde, “Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter,” We now must say goodbye highlights two canvases that together comprise one work: a recreation of the original portrait with the head of Ingres on the Princess’ body, and a smaller portrait solely of the Princess de Broglie’s bust. The two paintings hang apart, confronting the beholder with the image of the sitter on one side and the incorporated portrait of the original artist on the other.

These new Ingres-inspired paintings are an evolution of Ceylan’s Unfinished Painting series, which also examine historical Orientalist portraits through a contemporary, Eastern lens. The portraits involved an in-depth study of Ingres’ technique and process, as well as a detailed, in-person analysis of the original painting at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Ingres was widely recognized for his highly realistic portraits of the fashionable upper class. Princess de Broglie, 1851-53, one of his most famous works, was his last commissioned portrait of a female sitter. The unique positioning of the portraits alludes to the exhibition’s title, taken from poet Bertolt Brecht’s Alabama Song, as Ceylan offers Ingres the chance to say goodbye to the Princess de Broglie and, perhaps, to portraiture altogether.

The exhibition also debuts 10 new drawings on antique paper, self-portraits by Ceylan in the style of Ingres’ drawings. By embedding classical subjects in a contemporary context, Ceylan “reimagines the world that has been masked by time and distorted narrative.”

Taner Ceylan has exhibited in numerous museums, and galleries; the 8th International Istanbul Biennial (2003); the 9th International Istanbul Biennial (2005), “Postcards from CAC” at the Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans (2009); “Naked” at Paul Kasmin Gallery (2009); Istanbul Next Wave (2010); Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2010); “Istanbul Modern” at the Museum Boijman Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2011). His work is in private and public collections worldwide, including the Sveaas Art Collection and the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art. A large-scale interpretation of Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo’s famous painting ‘Il Quarto Stato’ and a new portrait of Pellizza, are currently on view at the Istanbul Modern from September 5 – November 1, 2015 as part of the 2015 Istanbul Biennial Saltwater curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev.

Artist ( Description ):

Known for his “emotional realism” paintings, Taner Ceylan graduated from the Fine Arts Faculty at Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul in 1991. That same year, Ceylan presented his first group show and first solo exhibition in Nuremberg, Germany. His seminal exhibition and performance “Monte Carlo Style,” debuted in 1995, making a significant impact on the Turkish art scene. Ceylan worked as a lecturer at the Fine Arts Faculty of Yeditepe University, 2001 – 2003 and was editor in chief of Time Out Istanbul’s arts section, 2001 – 2006.

Taner Ceylan has exhibited in numerous international art fairs, museums, and galleries including in New York (2009); the 8th International Istanbul Biennial (2003); the 9th International Istanbul Biennial (2005), “Postcards from CAC” at the Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans (2009); “Naked” at Paul Kasmin Gallery (2009); Istanbul Next Wave (2010); Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2010); “Istanbul Modern” at the Museum Boijman Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2011). His work is in private and public collections worldwide, including the Sveaas Art Collection and Istanbul Museum of Modern Art.

Curator Dan Cameron, who has championed the painter, orients him in a tradition of sexually explicit art stemming from Robert Mapplethorpe to Jeff Koons. Cameron says, “One of Turkey's most prominent artists, Taner Ceylan makes hyperrealist paintings that bespeak absolute technical mastery and precision, but which are also freighted with an emotional and sexual dimension usually absent from the genre--qualities that have set him apart from the prevailing tendencies in contemporary Turkish art, and which at times have also brought him outright abuse in the press." Ceylan's paintings occupy a register somewhere between the mutely homoerotic (as in his portrait of a bloodied and perspiring boxer--possibly an allegory of the artist's own trials) and the overtly sexual (to enter his website “you must be at least 18 years of age”). Cameron points out that the implicit argument of Celyan's work is “a romantic arguing for the wholesomeness of gay male sexuality.” (Exerpted fromWe Don't Know Who We Are in Taner Ceylan: 1997-2009. Damiani, Italy, 2011)

Venue ( Address ):

Paul Kasmin Gallery
297 Tenth Avenue
New York
10001

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