Refusing Algorithmic Perfection: The Search for "Visible Humanity" on Canvas
In the face of AI-generated frictionless imagery; an essay on the radical resurgence of the canvas, the painter's touch, and 'visible humanity' across contemporary art, figurative painting, and contemporary artists in Turkey.
On Consensusless Communication
Art is a consensusless communication. An essay exploring the epistemic limit of language, felt knowledge, tacit knowledge, and tangent contact as an encounter with truth.
Where the Wardrobe Outprices the Home: Notes on Contemporary Istanbul 21
A personal reflection following Contemporary Istanbul 21 at Tersane Istanbul: balancing a luxury store jacket against a painting on the wall, 90s digital effects, the repetition of textiles, sculptures by Plensa and Johnny Depp, art-washing, and the sociology of a sanitized art fair.
Raqib Shaw, "Night Sonnets": Miniature Tradition at Midnight
Raqib Shaw's 'Night Sonnets' at White Cube Mason's Yard: Indo-Persian miniature heritage, industrial enamel surfaces, and nocturnal horror vacui.
The Bayeux Tapestry in London: The Long Memory of Narrative Figurality
Examining the prospective loan of the Bayeux Tapestry to London: medieval narrative figuration, textile draughtsmanship, and collective trauma.
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Opens: When Illustration Enters the Museum
Opening of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles: dismantling hierarchies between fine art, illustration, and cinematic storytelling in figurative culture.
Maurizio Cattelan, "NIGHT": The Hyperrealist Figure and the Limits of Irony
Maurizio Cattelan's major exhibition 'NIGHT' at Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin: hyperrealist silicone figuration, Miesian architecture, and limits of institutional satire.
Mustafa Horasan (1965–2026): An Interrupted Dialogue of the Body
On painter Mustafa Horasan (1965–2026): an investigation of body, memory, and mark-making in Turkish figurative art ahead of his memorial tribute at Contemporary Istanbul 21.
Faces Vanished from Museums: The 2026 Renoir Thefts
Analyzing museum security, international provenance, and the irreplaceable aura of the physical canvas in light of the 2026 European museum thefts.
Is Measuring a Face Equivalent to Understanding a Human Being?
The critical divergence between biometric registration and human recognition: questions of representation addressed to face, identity, and lived experience.