Distilled From Scattered Blue

Distilled From Scattered Blue reflects the mysteries of the colour blue and the quest for what is yet undiscovered. It touches on wounds, memory, longing, loneliness, and distance, evoking a sense of creative pain. The exhibition borrows its title from a line in Lavinia Greenlaw’s poem From Scattered Blue, expanding from the pale blue hues symbolising ethereal innocence to the vast blackness of the all-absorbing universe. That elusive place we can never reach, the knots in our stomachs, the pain we carry like a medal upon our chests – perhaps they are all blue, demanding that we lower our guards while quietly permeating our skin.

Centred around the melancholic connotations of blue, the exhibition brings together works by Abdülmecid Efendi, Murat Akagündüz, Erol Akyavaş, Albert Bitran, Semiha Berksoy, Katrien de Blauwer, Hera Büyüktaşcıyan, Nejad Devrim, Marlene Dumas, Nermin Er, Max Ernst, Candeğer Furtun, Ahmet Doğu İpek, Fatoş İrwen, Şahin Kaygun, William Kentridge, Onur Kılıç, Gustav Klimt, Çağla Köseoğulları, Nermin Kura, Dora Maar, Basim Magdy, Kate MccGwire, Joan Miró, Mübin Orhon, Lara Ögel, Erman Özbaşaran, Anıl Saldıran, Sarkis, Léon Spilliaert, Yaşam Şaşmazer, Defne Tesal, Clare Twomey, Elif Uras and Masao Yamamoto.

The exhibition is accompanied by a publication printed in English and Turkish. Designed by Okay Karadayılar and written by Aliotti, each copy of the publication becomes unique with its sleeve printed using the cyanotype technique. Distilled From Scattered Blue recalls the memory of the exhibition Dark Deep Darkness & Splendor, which took place at Galerist in 2017, co-curated with Nilüfer Şaşmazer, focusing on the fertile creativity of black.