Kasa Gallery is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition İkon by Jeffrey Baykal-Rollins, realized in collaboration with the with the Leonardo Electronic Almanac, Goldsmiths College, FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), University of Westminster, and the MA in Media Studies at The New School.
İkon will feature new drawings and installations by Jeffrey Baykal-Rollins as well as an art performance on the opening night at Sabanci University Minerva Han in Karakoy, Istanbul.
The exhibition is composed of three interlinked sections: Icon, Iconostasis, and Iconoclast, each exploring the power invested in iconic images, both sacred and profane.
Icon is a performance in which the artist will use the speeches of several Arab Spring leaders. The performance interweaves excerpts from these speeches into a poetic discourse on the drastic political changes of today.
Iconostasis is an installation that combines multiple charcoal drawings, exploring constructions of reality into symbolic hierarchy.
Iconoclast are drawings made from burned posters the artist removed from public walls on May 1st in Istanbul, layering and deforming the iconic imagery of everyday social and political life.
İkon is an exhibition that through its three parts, questions the use of signs that blur the boundaries between culture, politics and religion. It also analyzes the complexities of the artist’s dual role as both maker of images and challenger to established dogmas and conventions.
İkon will take place in Kasa Gallery in Istanbul from June 8, 2012 to July 8, 2012. The opening is scheduled with a cocktail on June 8, 2012 at 19:00.
The exhibition is an international curatorial partnership with Senior Curators Lanfranco Aceti, (Kasa Gallery Director, Sabanci University) and Christiane Paul, (The New School and the Whitney Museum of American Art), In House Curator Ozden Sahin (Sabanci University) and Adjunct Curator Vince Dziekan (Monash University).
“In this times of complex social changes, artists can offer the opportunity to discover and understand our relationship to the imagery that we are being exposed to and that is being framed as ‘iconic’ change in media controlled and highly politicized discourses.” said Lanfranco Aceti, Kasa Gallery Director. “Ozden Sahin, the Kasa Gallery in House curator has curated an exciting exhibition that obliges the viewer to reflect upon the contemporary social and political changes.”
Bio of the Artist
Jeffrey Baykal-Rollins
Born in Santa Barbara, California, Jeffrey Baykal-Rollins completed a BFA in painting and photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, and received an MFA from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Baykal-Rollins’ artwork utilizes a variety of media including drawing, painting, photography, video, installation, performance, film, and poetry. He is the director of “Silsila,” a performance art and social sculpture collective based in Istanbul. His work has been exhibited and performed internationally, appears on the covers of dozens of books, and has been featured in the Turkish motion picture “Kucuk Kiyamet.” Having taught art at the University of California, Baykal-Rollins now teaches intermedia at Boğaziçi University and visual art at Robert College in Istanbul, Turkey, where he lives with his wife and two sons.