15 Nov 2012

Hal Buckner | Power & Passion at Yoleri Gallery, Istanbul

OPENING │ TUESDAY NOV 20 │ 6 – 8 pm │ALL ARTS, THE SOFA HOTEL, HARBIYE MH.TEŞVIKIYE CADDESI 123, │34367 ŞIŞLI ISTANBUL, TURKEY

YOLERI GALLERY Istanbul is delighted to invite you to the opening of the solo show by Hal Buckner on Tuesday. November 20, at 6 – 8 pm. Gallery Director Tarik Ersin Yoleri is putting on this well-known American artist's first solo show in Turkey, entitled 'POWER & PASSION'. The show is sponsored by All Arts Istanbul.

'As a sculptor, light, shadow and the power of a single line have always fascinated me. The figure, in particular the female form, has been a lifelong pursuit in my work. The female model offers a new challenge with each twist, step, and gesture. I have not begun to tire of these fundamental challenges.' (Hal Buckner)

Educated as an art historian, a painter and a sculptor Hal Buckner incorporates in his work scholarship as well as artistic experience. Many of his works such as 'Matisse, Matisse' (2006) and 'Last Supper | Homage to Leonardo' (2008) are related to famous works of art and artists belonging to the art historical canon. 'Turkish Bath' (2010), the main work of this exhibition, was inspired by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres' famous picture 'Turkish Bath' on display at the Musée de Louvre. Ingres in 1862 was influenced by the Orientalism fashion of the 19th century and stressed the sensual description of the texture of the female body; Hal Buckner concentrates on the suggestion of sensualism by the plasticity of contours and interior drawings of the sketched bodies.

Deeply rooted in the tradition of figurative art Buckner focused in his early works on small Bronzes. Favoring the technique of drawing, he always documented the conception of his bronzes in slightly bigger dimensioned Sepia sketches. This dialogue between sculpture and drawing and the circumstance that since his move to Long Island in 1985 he lacked a foundry nearby caused a new artistic development: the two-dimensional flat sculpture. As a base he used 1, 20 x 2, 40 m sized aluminum sheets out of which he cut out the contour line of life sized nudes, partly enameled and lacquered. These freestanding flat sculptures were finally mounted on a base. Thematically they were inspired by Tom Wesselmann's Series 'Great American Nude'.

Since 1989 he has reduced the two-dimensional character of the flat sculpture to the skeletal structure of contour and interior drawing as the minimum needed for recognition of a female body. This leeds to a playful interaction between the metal contours and the surrounding space. Hal Buckner calls these 'cutouts' and mounts them at a distance of a few centimeters from the wall. Exposed to the light the metal structure throws a shadow on the wall behind, which looks similar to its interior drawing.

Since 2003 Buckner has also used the potenial of the metal scrap as a by-product of the cutouts to create a body around his female figures. This produces a variation of spatial layers as in a picture puzzle such as it can be seen in 'Thirty Three Venus Flytrap' (2007).

HAL BUCKNER | * 1938 in Whidbey Island, WA (USA) | 1964-71 Studied painting and sculpture at the Universities of Seattle, Washington and Oregon | 1986-95 Teaching activity at the Universities of Southwestern Oregon Community College, OR; Long Island University, NY; Marywood College, PA; Keystone Junior College, PA, |1995 Professor Emeritus Pierce College, WA | Single and group exhibitions in Palm Beach, Berlin, Munich, Brookville, New York, Miami Beach | Lives and works in Southampton, NY