PAST

Square

12 JANUARY 2023 - 25 FEBRUARY 2023

Pilot Gallery is happy to announce Ece Ağırtmış's first solo exhibition titled "Square", which will take place between January 12 - 25 February 2023. “Square” explores the colourful and energetic perspective of Ağırtmış through square-shaped sculptures and installations. Between the borders of the square, Ağırtmış ventures into revealing the visible and invisible boundaries that arise from the living itself. Through the use of square, Ağırtmış invites the audience to consider the boundaries that can both hinder and liberate us in different situations, whether in physical or psychological spaces.

Ağırtmış's artistic style in "Square" is a commentary on the relationship between individual agency and external constraints. Through the use of vibrant and expressive forms, Ağırtmış invites viewers to consider the idea of harnessing personal power to break free from limitations and borders to discover new possibilities. The complexity of this relationship is further explored through the sculptures and installations, which invite reflection on the influence of external boundaries on our sense of freedom. This reflection highlights the dual nature of freedom, as it can be both hopeful and unhopeful simultaneously. On the one hand, the works suggest the potential to overcome constraints and live more freely and on the other hand, they also expose the ways in which we may be restricted by these very same boundaries. Thus, Ağırtmış's work invites us to consider the dynamic interplay between individual agency and external constraints and how we can navigate and transcend these limitations and borders to live more freely.

In The Vase, Ece Ağırtmış explores the relationship between flowers and the vases that hold them. While flowers are often removed from their natural habitat to be displayed in homes, they are also destined to wilt. Ağırtmış captures the beauty of these flowers in a timeless moment, immortalising their beauty even as they are separated from their life source. In "The Garden," the fences that enclose the flowers restrict their growth and protect them from external threats. The flowers can thrive and flourish in a safe and peaceful environment as long as they are surrounded by the structure.

In The Frame, Ağırtmış explores the role of memory in shaping our perception of the world. By deconstructing a photograph into its individual memory particles, Ağırtmış invites viewers to reconstruct the meaning and memory of the image through their own experiences. While the memory may be confined within the frame, the viewer is free to engage with it, taking the memory outside its borders, and creating a new understanding of the past.

Looking through The Window, the ephemeral scene is captured within the window panes. The work parallels The Viewing Glasses; for someone with visual impairments, glasses are one of the ways to see the world as everybody else. Everyday life and the world can only be seen through specific windows and perspectives, which limits the point of view, shaping one's thoughts and actions. What is happening beneath the surface, above the skies and on the sidelines are obstructed from the view, which may stretch for yard after yard, but as long as the perception is limited in some ways, the knowledge is also bounded.

Ağırtmış's Maps carry little elements of the artist's identity to the exhibition space, the locations that she calls "home". The little squares depict fragments of three cities that shaped the artist into who she is today: Istanbul, İzmir, and Eskişehir. However, when the nature of maps is considered, it can be seen that it's only a little portion of a broader image, the place we call home, and one may leave their first home, or the second, or the third, as long as they are able to construct a new one for themselves or have the desire to do so, since the homes will continue to occupy a small space in the world, or in the hearts of people.

Ece Ağırtmş’s first solo show, “Square”, will be on view at Pilot Gallery until February 25.