Moonlit night
Is a moon veiled bride
Each star a riddle
My heart, my love,
just as my soul,
are out of sight
From a song by Safiye Ayla...
Galeri Nev starts the new season with Anıl Saldıran’s exhibition titled “Moonlit Night”. In the long period of time after his exhibition “Wuthering Streets” at Galeri Nev in 2015, Saldıran was invited to significant group shows where he produced specific works. Yet, most of this time was spent by researching various types of textured papers and paperweights, brushes and pencils, and most especially, by practicing tempera on wood. Saldıran’s works in the upcoming exhibition show that the artist, becoming more and more skilled through his research, went beyond the existing archaic techniques and discovered his own formulas and methods: The works in the exhibition are almost a product of alchemy.
Anıl Saldıran’s works are intertwined by the encounters between the male body converging an encyclopedic or a mythological ideal, and the body of the artist himself. On a “moonlit night”, he goes for a silent walk in a forest of obscure bodies. He watches from afar those he meets, comes a little closer to few and listens to their breathing, and, at times, merely pierces through their bodies. Some fairy tales come to life in this state of consciousness between sleep and wakefulness. When the moonlight is not enough, Saldıran takes shelter in the most innocent tales of his childhood.
Saldıran graduated from Bilkent University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Fine Arts. He took graphic design classes both at Parsons School of Design and The School of Visual Arts in New York. Completed his master’s degree at Yeditepe University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Plastic Arts, where he also wrote a thesis on "Psychoanalysis and Art". After working with Ergin İnan, he opened his first solo exhibition at Füsun İnan in İstanbul in 2011 and then took part in the group exhibition “NevNesil: Identity Card” at Galeri Nev in 2013. In the following years, he was invited to ArtFunkl Residency in Manchester, UK. The artist’s works were also exhibited in the first of Abdülmecid Efendi Mansion Exhibitions “The Door Opens to the One Who Knocks”, “Wizard and The Garden” at Erimtan Museum, and the “Age of Gold” held at Galeri Nev on the occasion of its 35th anniversary.
“Moonlit Night”, named after a song by Safiye Ayla, is where Anıl Saldıran brings his technique and themes back to his own ‘golden age’. The exhibition is open to visit at Galeri Nev until Saturday, November 5th.
