Atlas Shrugged: Yeşim Akdeniz

Yesim Akdeniz Graf's "Atlas Shrugged" is an exhibition of paintings and two projections.  As the title indicates; the show is about "the fall of the world","destruction of systems" and how it can be dealt with.

The artist uses the symetric plan of the Gallery to present two alternative story-endings and uses two projections.  On the one side is the inevitable destiny -ending with all its consequences and without any possibility of escape.  On the other side is a modern –ending where the protagonist can carry no consequences,even after the end the story continiues.  In her paintings she shows traces of the fall.  How she exhibits her paintings can be seen as different scenes from  a film.  From a formal observation,some of the paintings are figurative and narrative, while the others are abstract.  The artist sees the abstract paintings as combining/breaking sequences between the figurative paintings.

Her work reflects a visual culture dominated by TV, Film, architecture, design, literature and other global business that defines the images we have of the world.  Literative and figurative.  Stories of J.G.Ballard, Films of Pasolini and David Lynch are very often inspiration sources in her work.

She selects emblems, figures, symbols and paints these images in such a way they become less specific, but take on a remarkable autonomy.  She is very interested in the image's outward appearence that makes it stylish and attractive.  She constructs ironic relations with contemporary forms of image production and conceptualisation.