In ‘Both Existing and Non Existent’ Halil Vurucuoğlu’s solo exhibition sets out from philosopher Slavoj Žižek's idea that the borders of our freedom are embodied by global warming in the Anthropocene, the geological age we live in, which defines the transformation the Earth has experienced by human hands. Based on this idea, with the works he brings together in this exhibition, the artist interprets the ecological crisis we are in as one of the most crucial problems of humanity, both locally and globally, and within the framework of this exhibition, he explores nature, the environment and the human impact on both. The exhibition includes Vurucuoğlu’s works produced by using the techniques of paper cutting, tearing and creating paper layers that he has mastered for many years.

Based on the fundamental cycle of nature – birth, death, and transformation – Vurucuoğlu puts the concepts of “creating” and “destroying” in the center and formalizes them by employing the act of tearing, which can also be defined as “destroying by crumbling”. With this practice, the artist examines the relationship between these very actions and consciousness, imagination, culture and ecological balance. At the same time, he also tells us that we are gradually losing our World and that what remains is only an imagination.

Reflecting the pain caused by a new environmental disaster or the loss of a natural or cultural value with each passing day, the artwork titled “Fathomless Lake” (“Dipsiz Göl”), a natural wonder untouched for 12 thousand years, takes its place in the exhibition in a trilogy that defines Vurucuoğlu's perspective as “existence”, “extinction” and “in-between”. Besides the concepts of existence or non existence, the artist presents the viewer with forms that remind of places on Earth that one cannot define where precisely but that have probably vanished, or perhaps the tranquility the viewer once felt. As an artist he highlights the importance of environmental responsibility and sustainability and re-uses the paper waste generated during his production process.

Bringing together an exciting and new selection of artworks, Halil Vurucuoğlu’s solo exhibition “Both Existing and Non Existent” can be visited until April 22, 2022 at Anna Laudel in Istanbul.

Halil Vurucuoğlu was born in Izmir in 1984. He graduated from Dokuz Eylül University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Painting in 2007. Including his first solo exhibition titled “Bambu” in 2008, Vurucuoğlu held a total of eight solo exhibitions in Istanbul and Bremen. Having participated in many important art fairs and group exhibitions in Turkey and abroad, Vurucuoğlu lives and works in Istanbul. Halil Vurucuoğlu defines his painting process as a mental and physical activity that grows and develops by articulated layers. The visual language of his works focuses on social phenomena, disinformation, subconscious, human as the combination of the material and the meaning, and personal issues. The interaction between these themes gains new dimensions in the artist’s works. Reaching a point where the classical painting techniques were no longer sufficient, and as a result of an intensive searching process, he mastered the authentic paper cutting technique, which had not been applied before. He became the pioneer of this technique where he watercolors the papers and cuts them by hand. Bringing together his imagination and his positive and negative experiences, Vurucuoğlu also uses different techniques such as watercolor and spray paint, in addition to his installations and three-dimensional works, even though he is mainly known for his paper cut works. 

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