Melis Erdem

Melis Erdem
‘’H’iç ve Dış’’
30.07 – 23.08.2022

Within the scope of the 1Wall Exhibitions, Büyükdere35 is hosting Melis Erdems’ exhibition titled “H’iç ve Dış” between 30 July – 23 August 2022.

‘‘’It was “that which is not being”; it had no other being than that of illusion and error.’’
Jean-Paul Sartre

The representations of the forms are the construction of the nothingness and deprivation of the age we live in and the ontological fragments of how our age looks from the outside, from the distant future.

All of her works are rebels to the ‘’nothingness’’ that inner existence has been exposed since the Post-Fordist era. It is a response to the violence of the deaf and speechless century we live in. Her paintings and sculptures -which are an expression of the universal routine, are traces and signs of the future, to the times when she no longer exists.

The semantic collision between the duality ‘’existence-nonexistence’’, ‘’goodness – evil’’ is found in her works. Rigid materials such as steel and iron represent the hardness of ‘’nothingness’’. Her paintings pointing to the “obscure – transparent” texture of existence is a reaction against this ‘’nothingness,’’ and it leads to a search for a new plastic expression that will represent the ‘’birth-death’’ duality.

Melis Erdem is an artist-interior architect currently based in Istanbul. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Architecture at Işık University, Istanbul, and her Master’s Degree in Retail Space in Barcelona. After 2 years of nourishing collaborations in Barcelona, she returned to Istanbul in 2017 to dedicate herself to her artistic projects. Despite her educational background, she plays with chaotic figures to interpret the imperfections of life in contrast to the perfection and technicality of the architectural world.

Her works focus on finding balance within the chaos and gently accepting the natural cycle of growth and decay. Melis gives form to new compositions with undesired and abandoned materials, giving a unique perspective to objects once orphaned of their usefulness.