Closky says his exploration of art “probably” began in a utopian but necessary search for freedom. His artistic career has given him the opportunity to create shows in many countries throughout the world. In an interview with Today’s Zaman, he says these experiences have given him “a very wide range of encounters, impressions, specific knowledge, misunderstandings, impossible to summarize rationally.” Titled “Heads or Tails,” the show features two new works, “A Flat World” and “No Choice,” both designed specifically for the Akbank Art Center. “I conceived them according to the shape of the rooms but mostly to the concept of the building, with its typically corporate architecture, large entrance room on the first floor, etc.,” Closky notes, adding that with “A Flat World,” he reverses the authority of representation; the erected image, which is normally on a wall or a stand, is laid down flat on a table. “Both pieces play with two-sided objects or concepts. These works focus on choice and representation: on the complex relations between freedom and alienation. I added a third work, ‘Geo Metry,’ as a counterpoint,” the artist explains.
Information and various forms of data play an important role in much of Closky’s art. Speaking about this unique raw material’s significance for his work, he says: “I am interested in the signs by which we make sense of our surroundings. I am interested in the way we read them and produce them. I am interested in the way we see through them and reflect ourselves in them.”
Asked about the relationship between popular culture and the work that he does, Closky explains, “I try to give an image of mainstream culture and ideas,” adding: “I need to take some distance from my subjects to do so, making an image consist in building a point of view. I like to use humor to go from the inside to the outside world.”
Closky says he doesn’t know as much as he would like about the Turkish art world, but based on what he has seen so far, he says, “The situation here seems very dynamic, like a laboratory under many different ascendancies.” Amongst the Turkish artists that have caught his interest he lists Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin, Yüksel Arslan, Kutluğ Ataman, Cengiz Çekil, mentalKLİNİK, Sarkis, Ayşe Erkmen, Seza Paker and Füsun Onur.
Those seeking more information on Closky and his art may visit www.sittes.net, which also features his unique brand of Web-based art. Asked whether he is planning to expand his Internet art in the future, he states that he certainly will continue to work with the Internet. “It isn’t at all a question of spreading but because the Internet provides very interesting relations between data, time and space.”“Heads and Tails” will run through March 6 at the Akbank Art Center in Taksim.
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