Press Release - INCOGNITO

02/02/2012 - 03/03/2012


CDA-Projects, conducts the second exhibition of the year with the first solo exhibition of the illustration artist Elif Varol Ergen titled “Incognito”.

Having set – as a starting point – those moments of violence of children against their mother and father figures and the child abuses frequently depicted in the media in the recent years, the artist interprets the states related to the before and after of these frightening states in a narrative manner.

Elif Varol Ergen has configured this exhibition as parts of a script in which a different fragment is told through each work. Originating from incognitus in Latin and defined as gizlenen kimlik (hidden identity) or takma ad (pseudonym) in Turkish, “Incognito” refers implicitly to the necessity of hiding the names of the little children subjected to violence and abuse.

According to the artist: “The severe reflections of the traumatic and merciless worlds of adults on the bodies and souls of children raise child characters living, but not being aware of it; suffering, yet mistaking it as disappointment and embarrassed of their genders.” The characters in Ergen’s works transform into pitch-dipped strange entities and criminals with pale faces, sharp teeth, shadows. The heavy dose, grotesque in the images, severe form deformations, sagging and melting forms merge and blend with intensive contrasts in red and black. While the fragility and the repressiveness of the content could ease the viewers’ empathy, memories of the viewers maintain their dialogues with the works even after this experience.

The artist uses techniques such as acrylic, ink, silkscreening and digital imaging and avoids constraining approaches during the production phase of the works. The exhibition “Incognito” presented through canvases, silkscreening, mixed media, CNC-machined productions and mono prints can be viewed at CDA-Projects in Mısır Apt, İstiklal Street, İstanbul on  January 3rd – March 3rd 2012.



Artist Pages
  - Elif Varol Ergen