Firstly, can you tell us about yourself?
- Hello, I'm Candan İşcan. I'm from Ankara. I graduated in graphic design, and I continue to work in this profession. Initially, I worked at a few corporate places, and then I switched to freelancing. When I switched to freelancing, I started my art projects. Later on, these two paths started to go parallelly. Now, I work as a freelance graphic designer and continue my art projects in my studio in Kadıköy. I also teach one day a week at the university. The department I graduated from, graphic design, is one of the factors that influence my work.
What are the sources that contribute to the formation of the language that constitutes your artworks and nourish you?
- When I think about the sources that nourish me, botanical and anatomical drawings used to influence me a lot. Lately, I can say that I am influenced and nourished by the pop surrealism and Lowbrow movements. Actually, everyday events, a book I read, a movie I watch – all these can be considered as nourishing sources.
We see that you work with different mediums periodically in your artworks. Can you tell us about the formation process of this versatility in your art practice?
- I think different mediums have a significant impact on the art practice because each medium opens up a different path to approach a subject. Firstly, when I get bored of using the same technique all the time, I try different mediums. Secondly, I work on certain emotions that I can only express by wandering around but cannot pinpoint; sometimes, I can approach these emotions in different ways by using different mediums. There are times when I get stuck in terms of content, and the most common way I use to overcome these obstacles is to change the medium. As I change the medium, it both nourishes the medium and the content; it turns into a transforming and nourishing cycle. I think art practice should be a lifelong cycle that accompanies your life, and that's why I like working with different mediums.
Why did you name your exhibition "Excessive"?
- I started working with oil paints during the pandemic. The pandemic, everyone would agree, created a shock effect on all of us. It made us question many things. Later on, the current state of the world - the economy, war, metaverse, and so on - became a surreal, almost limitless chaos. It hit us in the face. After the pandemic, when we look at something, we are faced with a surreal reality where we can't believe our eyes, can't believe what we hear, and even can't believe our emotions and reactions. A complexity and chaos that emotionally overwhelms us, making us question even things we used to get angry about. This world truly feels excessive to me, and the name of the exhibition came from the word "superfluous," meaning more than necessary.
