Echoing his work in architecture, in his practice as an artist, he questions the limitations of the two disciplines.

Şevki Pekin Architecture
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Three Main Ideas

Writing, 2017

On Color & Materiality:

Color is, not a representation of matter but is the matter itself. The materiality of the color cannot be disclosed in any other medium. The color is a surface that triggers sensations and creates a mood. Use of color as a material creates fields. These fields, with small variations in hue, saturation, and brightness, create compositions that are not reducible to visual perception. In a color field, the whole cannot be seen as a static quality, therefore, cannot be defined as a single composition of spatial points. Color has an edge condition and it differentiates itself from another color, therefore color always whispers a shape. A color field creates its own borders and lets emerge a greater composition.

On Composition & Perception:

Creating compositions it the essential activity in artistic realm. Composition, as an idea, is not simply the accidental coming together of different objects, but a certain relationship implied by the act of posing at least two objects together. However, physically creating a composition does not fulfill the requirements of a ‘composition’ by itself. The perception of that work is as important as its creation. The perception of the artistic matter occurs as the consequence of a relationship between objects. The sensation of an object, traditionally conceived within the limits of the five senses, is a subjective phenomenon, an interpretation of a reality.

Wall Sculptures:

A traditional painting is created in a rectangular shape, on a planar surface where the content of the painting overpowers its form. In the ‘Color is a Material’ series the wall-sculptures are single colored objects, that mimic a painting due to their visual flatness but their exterior form hints towards the sculptural qualities of the matter.

The objects consist of a single color and also have a defined shape. Due to the planar appearance of the sculpture from afar, the edge effect between the sculpture and its background,  creates the perception of a shape. The objects are simply described as the blue, the green or the brown object. The color of the object overcomes the ‘physical’ materiality and thus color becomes the ‘real’ material of the object. 

Wall sculptures have a theatrical quality that constitutes a space for the spectators to participate in. From a distance, the spectator understands wall sculptures as flat objects. Approaching the sculpture with a continuous motion, the spectator senses that the space becomes a three-dimensional envelope. Nearing the sculpture, the spectator notices a sound & vibration that adds up to the sensuous attributes of the object. Standing very close to the sculpture, the spectator cannot see the overall shape of the object but can only feel the vibration. 

Ultimately, the spectator senses the object in many different levels but none of them happen simultaneously. The objects oscillate between a flat painting and a vibrating, three dimensional object. The spectator has to discover multiple layers of the object piece by piece. Eventually those sensed ‘pieces’ add up to a new whole; to a composition. Thus, the ‘real object’ will manifest itself to perception.