BBProjectTT hosts Sümer Erek’s exhibition “Tearing the Art”. In his paintings Erek centers the body through the frame.
Tearing the Art is anchoring the body as a bridge, consisting of one-to-one dialogues, simmering over hours, ultimately seeking to reach a common essence through interactions. On the other hand, the paintings on view draw on collated stills collected from thousands of images and documents that endured from this duration.
The series is an extension of Erek’s wider artistic practice, particularly his well-known socially engaged projects which have become characteristic of his work, revolving around the themes of loss, trauma, migration, and geographic and spiritual dislocation. Life Art and Beyond Project can be seen as a culmination of recognisable elements and techniques in Erek’s work, from Footnotes (1999–2000), Visibility/Invisibility (2002), and Broken Tides (2016).
The methods in Erek’s practice can be related to a notion of ‘alchemizing’, discussed at length elsewhere, transforming interactions between artist and participants through a fluid exchange of dynamic emotions and experiences in the acts of listening, documenting and display, writes Esra Plümer Bardak in her text abut Erek.
