Art On İstanbul is pleased to present Burcu Erden’s third solo exhibition Seal, opening September 15th through October 18th. Taking traditional materials and techniques of sculpture making as a starting point, the artist examines the notion of visibility of sculpture. Seal showcases marble cylinders, ce- ramic reliefs and polyester sculptures.
Burcu Erden places the conceptual frame of this exhibition around the problematic of the installa- tion of holy objects in ancient times. The artist ponders on questions like the motivations for pro- duction, design and placement of these objects, and the comparisons the artist makes to her own sculpting practice constructs the background of the exhibition.
The starting point of Seal comes from the research Burcu Erden had done for the Lightness of The Material exhibition. During a visit to The Museum of the Ancient Orient, Erden gets moved by a foundation peg that was placed under a floor tile in Sumerian and Hittite structures. This figurine is meant to be placed underground and is a protector; as a part of a ritual, it’s visibility is never a con- cern. With this idea in mind, the artist questions the difference between a sculpture that is pro- duced to be exhibited, displayed and shown, versus the object that is not meant to be seen despite it’s delicate craftsmanship and design. The artist remembers and reminds how recent in history it is to address an object as a sculpture, and her practice to produce a sculpture with her own decision: material, form, technique and conceptual frame.
In Seal, there are three series in technical unity and diversity of materials and forms. The first series are the cylinder seals where Erden uses traditional ceramic relief production techniques. Erden carves her designs on marble cylinders and rolls them over the clay to produce imprints, which will then become the ceramic reliefs. In this exhibition the reliefs and the seals are presented together; the reliefs are the imprints, and the cylinders are the sources of the imprints. The large sculptures that resemble rocks are the second series of the exhibition. These sculptures are like the continua- tion of the marks we see in the seals and reliefs, but in a larger scale. The relationship between the imprint and the surface is essential in Erden’s work, which ties these three series together.
Burcu Erden
Born in 1986 in İstanbul, Burcu Erden completed her Undergraduate, Graduate and PhD de- grees at Mimar Sinan Fine Art University’s Sculpture major. Working as a faculty member at Mimar Sinan Fine Art University, Erden’s first solo exhibition “Ashes of Tomorrow” (2018) took place at Tophane-I Amire, second solo exhibition “Calling for the Mass” (2019) at Art On İstanbul. Erden lives and works in İstanbul.