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''Airhead'' - Irmak Canevi

‘‘I had constructed four distinct characters for “Şık” (“Gilded”), a show I had at 400x118, a gallery in a vitrine at Ä°MÇ (mall of drapers), which recently closed its doors. This is where Derin and I met. It is also when I started letting everyone know that I now make sculptures. I continue to work in three dimensions with much excitement and intrigue.

Owing to our fun collaboration with Derin Print Shop, I am delighted to have discovered the rich world of printmaking as well during this period of intense experimentation in material and techniques. Our teamwork which began in the spring of 2024 culminated in an unexpected character we named “Airhead" (“Bulut Kafa”), a whimsical figure with their head in the clouds.

We started our work by asking how Irmak, an artist whose most recent fascination is in freestanding objects, would construct a print. We set out to create a large composite shape made of other shapes in response. These forms were excavated from Irmak’s website where documentation of his artwork can be seen. We then matched some of these shapes, which can be described as silhouettes of his older work, to create a whole. Essentially we stacked these parts on top of each other to build a figure to make it look like it was standing up, much like those characters I built for “Şık”.

We noticed that each of these parts provided us with a separate area where we could experiment with different printmaking techniques such as “chine-collé”, “sugarlift”, “aquatint”, and “à la poupée”. These techniques were used to imprint different textures of a variety of materials onto our zinc plates. The spongy texture of sliced polyurethane foam became an airhead in the clouds; an avocado net, perhaps a skirt; an old pair of bundled socks, a right foot; and a herringbone-patterned straw ribbon, a belt…

Through one final intervention, i.e., by cutting and spray painting each print, we created a family of airheads. This is how the playful adventure of two kindred spirits in printmaking unfolded and grew into a rather large work.’’

Irmak Canevi
2024

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