Ardan Özmenoğlu is renowned for her works that combine printing techniques with post-it notes, and her installations. For this show, Özmenoğlu will be presenting her new neon and conceptual works that identify with her, including the neon-work that lent its name to the show.

The name “Değmesin Yağlıboya // Watch Out” comes from a line often repeated by “En Kahraman Rıdvan”, the most famous character of “Gırgır” magazine. It’s a colloquial expression used when one is to pass through a crowd while carrying something; and it’s also the name of the seventh album by Barış Manço. The work bearing this name has been created with the same typeface used on the cover of Barış Manço’s album. Though the exhibition is based on these influences, it retains an artistic intuition. The phrase defines an approach seen quite often in art; it’s an important line for painters repeated often as they carry their oil paintings; it’s an expression beyond all these meanings. It’s also an attitude displayed nowadays by contemporary artists!

What this show is based on, is something that belongs to us, something that we forget about, something that we can’t distinguish as we see or hear it very often: “our life”. For this show, Özmenoğlu has created what she calls “manhole covers featuring designs”: multi-layered mixed-media works that appear 3-dimensional and captivate viewers. She interprets and transforms ordinary objects that we’ve grown accustomed to by seeing them everyday as we walk on the streets. By distancing these symbols from their traditional forms and giving them geometric shapes, Özmenoğlu defines herself and us.

One of the rare contemporary Turkish artists who impress with their uniqueness and original techniques, Ardan Özmenoğlu will be presenting her solo show “Watch Out” at Gallery Ilayda between April 17th – May 17th .

Ardan Özmenoğlu (b.1979, Ankara), Contemporary Artist. She completed her Bachelor and Master studies at Bilkent University Faculty of Fine Arts, Design and Architecture. Her works comprise mainly site-specific installations created by utilizing printing techniques on various materials, paintings and transparent glass sculptures made with the same technique. She was invited to work at: Berkeley Kala Art Institute, Berlin Ateliergemeinschaft Milchhof e.V., Belgium Frans Masereel Art Center and Kulturkontakt Austria, Vienna. Özmenoğlu, whose works are exhibited worldwide, lives in Istanbul and New York.