Bits and Pieces

Artist Bio:

Özge Kul (b. 1991, İzmir) is a Turkish painter based in Istanbul. She graduated from the Painting Department at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in 2017 and went on to a master's in Basic Art Education there. Her recent work grows out of a 2018 residency at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, where she collaborated with artist Patrizia Bach on the TOMIKO photo archive — repainting found family photographs at a deliberate blur so that images which look sharp from across the room dissolve as you approach. She has shown at Mamut Art Project, Mixer, and KargArt in Istanbul, and is represented by Galeri Soyut in Ankara.

Bits and Pieces

Bits and Pieces is a weaving together of the echoes of history into the fabric of contemporary visual representation. A reimagining of ancient characters and symbols through the modern language of tattoo iconography.  For the last few years, tattooing has become integral to my art practice. As a modern graphic art form, it allows me to incorporate digital illustration methods to produce new hybrid subjects and designs, frequently drawing inspiration from Middle Eastern art. The tattoo medium has reignited my investment in experimenting with Eastern historical art traditions, pushing me to explore new materials and methods of expression.  The process of blending these ancient remnants, icons, myths, beasts, and deities of the past with contemporary illustration has provoked a venture into yet another experimentation, a reinterpretation through a more traditional material—mosaic.  These works exist in the space between tradition and the present, finding their final form in the union of mosaic pieces. Framed within ceramics inspired by Middle Eastern patterns, and enriched by Ottoman miniatures and Middle Eastern mythology, I created the Bits and Pieces series—where the past and present coexist in a delicate balance.  -Özge Kul 

Art Meets Tattoos

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