Seyit Mehmet Buçukoğlu: A “Cultural” Lyrical Abstractionist
The mind abounds with the imprints of the cultural images it is continuously exposed to; they come across, crash into, blend with and transform each other in the memory’s corridors. They are reproduced each time they are consciously recalled, while the unconscious tends to reveal them when they are least expected, and sometimes in a work of art. Rendered visible either by conscious invitation or unconscious games, the rest of an image’s never ending journey continues in the other minds encountering the work, thanks to which we are not only able to talk about artistic tradition but also imagination, affect and authenticity.
Seyit Mehmet Buçukoğlu is not after the illustration of cultural symbols; his intention is to absorb the image, accompany it in its journey and forward it to its next destination in its both consciously and unconsciously transformed state. He deliberately allows the image to cross his mind’s corridors and to drip on the painting surface from where it can embark on its journey towards new minds. The viewer encountering it is free to accommodate it in his own universe of associations as he pleases. Yet, Buçukoğlu’s behavior becomes much more controlling when composition is concerned; also thanks to his graphic design background, elements such as proportion, balance and even symmetry are crucially important to him. For instance, the typography of his formalistically used pseudo-texts is so realistic that the viewer initially assumes that he stands before an actual text and it is him who is unable to read it for some reason. What is more, amorphous and fluid surfaces appear side by side or in entanglement with clear-cut geometric forms. A strong tension between chaos and order emerges from these two essentially opposite dynamics, and this is precisely why the work never reveals itself to the viewer at first sight. Experiencing its provocative and ritualistic nature requires a meticulous scan of its rich texture in width and plural layers in depth, and a final return to ground zero to re-experience the composition in its entirety.
Despite his mainly expressionistapproach, the artist uses certain elements in systematic repetition, the first of which is the circle. While it also constitutes the frame of some of the works, it appears at least once in all of them. Unlike other forms, its boundaries are sharp and clear, although the area inside it is still dominated by chaos and multilayeredness. If the composition contains more than one circle, these relate to each other in a precise geometric order and pseudo-texts usually remain within their boundaries; as such, they resemble mandalas, charms or amulets empowered by magic words. Yet the artist is interested in the circle’s highly varied formal manifestations in material culture at least as much as in its rich symbolisms. On the other hand, gold is another recurring element in Buçukoğlu’s oeuvre with its strong references. Gold’s associations transcending history and geography are at the basis of the mysticism that the paintings emanate. Gold corresponds to all that is valuable, scarce, powerful and exquisite, thus it has a critical role in turning the work into a rare and mysterious piece of jewelry.
Experimenting with various techniques and materials has an important place in Buçukoğlu’s practice; in his works ranging from prints to paintings or even sculptures, he uses organic objects such as leaves in combination with paper, bronze, acrylic and oil paint. In “Morpheme”, experimentation has apparently left its place to a more sublimated technical and stylistic vocabulary. The concept in question refers to the smallest unit in language that is able to produce meaning; indeed, the artist’s purpose is to create a space where the basic form-units of the language of his own visual/cultural memory can become manifest. The paintings interconnected by networks of color, form and texture that have emerged during this quest are no longer a series of works, but together they give rise to a unique ‘universe’; a lyrical universe sculpted out of the ancient cultures’ hidden gems and animated by mnemonic vibrations.
İpek Yeğinsü, 2021
The mind abounds with the imprints of the cultural images it is continuously exposed to; they come across, crash into, blend with and transform each other in the memory’s corridors. They are reproduced each time they are consciously recalled, while the unconscious tends to reveal them when they are least expected, and sometimes in a work of art. Rendered visible either by conscious invitation or unconscious games, the rest of an image’s never ending journey continues in the other minds encountering the work, thanks to which we are not only able to talk about artistic tradition but also imagination, affect and authenticity.
Seyit Mehmet Buçukoğlu is not after the illustration of cultural symbols; his intention is to absorb the image, accompany it in its journey and forward it to its next destination in its both consciously and unconsciously transformed state. He deliberately allows the image to cross his mind’s corridors and to drip on the painting surface from where it can embark on its journey towards new minds. The viewer encountering it is free to accommodate it in his own universe of associations as he pleases. Yet, Buçukoğlu’s behavior becomes much more controlling when composition is concerned; also thanks to his graphic design background, elements such as proportion, balance and even symmetry are crucially important to him. For instance, the typography of his formalistically used pseudo-texts is so realistic that the viewer initially assumes that he stands before an actual text and it is him who is unable to read it for some reason. What is more, amorphous and fluid surfaces appear side by side or in entanglement with clear-cut geometric forms. A strong tension between chaos and order emerges from these two essentially opposite dynamics, and this is precisely why the work never reveals itself to the viewer at first sight. Experiencing its provocative and ritualistic nature requires a meticulous scan of its rich texture in width and plural layers in depth, and a final return to ground zero to re-experience the composition in its entirety.
Despite his mainly expressionistapproach, the artist uses certain elements in systematic repetition, the first of which is the circle. While it also constitutes the frame of some of the works, it appears at least once in all of them. Unlike other forms, its boundaries are sharp and clear, although the area inside it is still dominated by chaos and multilayeredness. If the composition contains more than one circle, these relate to each other in a precise geometric order and pseudo-texts usually remain within their boundaries; as such, they resemble mandalas, charms or amulets empowered by magic words. Yet the artist is interested in the circle’s highly varied formal manifestations in material culture at least as much as in its rich symbolisms. On the other hand, gold is another recurring element in Buçukoğlu’s oeuvre with its strong references. Gold’s associations transcending history and geography are at the basis of the mysticism that the paintings emanate. Gold corresponds to all that is valuable, scarce, powerful and exquisite, thus it has a critical role in turning the work into a rare and mysterious piece of jewelry.
Experimenting with various techniques and materials has an important place in Buçukoğlu’s practice; in his works ranging from prints to paintings or even sculptures, he uses organic objects such as leaves in combination with paper, bronze, acrylic and oil paint. In “Morpheme”, experimentation has apparently left its place to a more sublimated technical and stylistic vocabulary. The concept in question refers to the smallest unit in language that is able to produce meaning; indeed, the artist’s purpose is to create a space where the basic form-units of the language of his own visual/cultural memory can become manifest. The paintings interconnected by networks of color, form and texture that have emerged during this quest are no longer a series of works, but together they give rise to a unique ‘universe’; a lyrical universe sculpted out of the ancient cultures’ hidden gems and animated by mnemonic vibrations.
İpek Yeğinsü, 2021