ISTANBUL.- Galeri 77 is hosting Mesut Karakış’ third solo exhibition titled “Layers and Grooves” to be held within the gallery between December 16th and January 16th. Deviating from all other abstract works with his technique and color works and producing exceptionally successful works on this path, the artist takes the relationship between forms, spots and colors beyond the borders of the canvas by gravitating towards a more direct form in his paintings.

Mesut Karakış has found an innovative way in the field of abstract painting. His treatment of paint and color as well as his painting method is unique. Without a brush or any other traditional tool, he creates appealing works that propel the concept of abstraction by truly revealing the power of color. While his early oeuvre was characterized by organic deformation and lyrical expressions, he later created paintings based on geometrical shapes, and highly dynamic matrixes of lines, where the grid dominated. In his current series of work though, besides further developing his painting style, Karakış managed to strengthen the psychovisual impact of his pieces by stronger focusing on color. Whereas in his previous series, organic shapes as well as geometrical grids were the leading elements in his compositions, in his current work, color has become an equal parameter.

Karakış’ way of painting is extraordinary. Usually, after putting the canvas flat onto a horizontal surface, he applies 40 to 60 layers of acrylic paint on top of each other. In his latest pieces, this number has even doubled, so that it takes up to three months to finish a painting. The body of the work consists of multiple layers of color. Every single one influences the psychovisual effect of the paint above, and so causes a sensual feeling of painterly deepness.

On the final layer, complex textures of lines and shapes formulate a vibrant field on the foreground, which stimulates the retina as well as the mind of the spectator. Though, the surface is not completed with a brush. Mesut Karakış uses a chemical reaction between water and acrylic paint for disengaging and dissolving certain parts of the color. The artist applies his lines and shapes by using traces of water, which he makes sink into the color layers for removing certain amounts of paint to reveal underlying parts. The longer water rests on the acrylic paint, the more it melts into the layers, and so reveals the parts underneath. During the whole process, Karakış must consider the consistency of the paint, and the temperature of the studio. He also has to measure time, place, heat, moisture, and many other environmental effects that influence the drying process of the applied paint. In this sense, the painting procedure resembles a scientific research of color.




The works, forming their characteristic aesthetic based on blurredness and clarity, reveal both the rich history of abstract painting and the visual culture of today. His alternative method of painting, erasing and revealing has not only a visual quality. This means observing the results of the dynamic flow and looking in and behind multiple layers of paint.

The visual impact of the method is high and appealing. Verily, this multi-layered transparency and dynamism also refers to the way our visual culture melts into one another at high speed, creating an unending visual flow. Therefore, besides creation and erasure, revealing and concealment also represent this cultural flow.

This conceptual aspect is even stronger in the current series, where the paintings resemble explosions within the matrix of our visual culture. Not only have the works become more multilayered and more colorful, also the textures and the compositions possess now more variations. In his exhibition at Galeri 77, the visitor can see the numerous aesthetics in different series very well.

For abstract painters like Mesut Karakış, shapes and colors are the only issues that are of importance in an artwork. Focusing on the intrinsic structure of painting itself, its composition aims for a maximal visual impact and retinal effect on the spectator. As these works are never narrative, they only refer to their actual and physical being.

Especially these last works proof that Mesut Karakış is still researching various forms of painting for continuing to find new ways of creating his art. He is permanently looking for alternative forms of artistic and painterly expression. The current exhibition at Galeri 77 promises new chapters in the story of Karakış’ journey through the world of abstract art. It is an exciting quest towards new aesthetics, and we are lucky to be able to join him.

Furthermore, you can also visit the exhibition as a three-dimensional virtual tour. For your own virtual tour experience, please click the link below.
https://www.dreamreality.com.tr/3d-model/mesut-karakis-layers-and-grooves-solo-exhibition/fullscreen