Plastic objects seduce Ece on her every day walk. When one proves to be desirable, she takes it back to her studio. There, she transforms it into organic forms, building multiple layers by adding and distorting, playing with fire and water, pushing and pulling with her hands.  

Ece studied to become an architect. Years of working in an office under strict guidelines and balancing symmetric square forms created the need to have an outlet where she could have complete control. She began to work more intuitively, playing with materials, creating organic shapes and natural colours. She started to paint abstract spaces resembling cosmic explosions and dark holes.

The dark uncomfortable matter peaked her interests- the insides being exposed into the outer layers, showing a depth, the hidden, the deep mystery, like a secret slowly being revealed:  something curious that uncomfortably exists, seeming not to belong. The state of the people back home in Turkey, she explains, is that one cannot easily show emotions or reactions to current political events.  This bottling up, holding in fear and anger has created a visible uncomfortable state.

 all photos by PILOTENKUECHE International Art Program

“Weird!” is what we call something that seems wrong or should not exist, not here anyway.  Mark Fisher’s book, The Weird and The Eerie, influences Ece’s perspective on the state of her nation and of individuals, but she knows how to balance it out, between the serious and playful. She knows when to allow thoughts in and when to keep them out. She has a fascination for the body, especially the mouth- where things enter and are then digested- and the eyes that take in all that is in front of them and which also signifies being watched.

In her studio, in Leipzig, she has gathered more toys than usual. The colours of the objects have transitioned from black to red and now to pink, resembling flesh and all its connotations.  She plays with the colour and layers a certain level of sexuality through the use of feminine forms without being obvious. The use of something playful and something dangerous, working through control and with chance, perhaps comes from her Gemini spirit.

Chance and Coincidence take on key roles in her process, and throughout the next couple of months, Ece will continue to test the limits. How far is too far for her materials? At what point does her manipulation rob them of their essence? Do the objects of the city gain from being part of the greater cosmos Ece is creating? How will she be influenced by her peers in an open studio environment and the personal exploration of all that she discovers?

written by mihyun maria kim

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Come and see what Ece creates in the following shows:

Unfinished Hase

Vernissage:  15.02.19, 19h
Open:  16 – 23.02.19, 13 – 17h
Finissage: 23.02.19 19h
Location: Alte Handelsschule, Gießerstraße 75, 04229 Leipzig, Germany

Fast Kotzen 

Vernissage:  23.03.19, 19h
Open:  24 – 27.03.19 17h-20h
Location: PILOTENKUECHE, 2nd Floor, Franz-Flemming-Str. 9, 04179 Leipzig, Germany