Şeniz Aksoy's exhibition at CerModern presents the landscape not merely as an image, but as a space of memory unfolding layer by layer. The canvases, where nature, technology, and time intersect, take the viewer on a journey between the past and the future.
This exhibition, which coincides with Cermodern's 15th anniversary, is not merely an artist's personal adventure; in my view, it is also an attempt to re-measure time through painting. In Şeniz Aksoy's canvases, the landscape is not merely an image we glance at but pass by; it is a space of memory that draws us in, unfolding layer by layer. That vast space brings to mind Etel Adnan's words, "The true space of painting is the space of memory." Aksoy's brush wanders in an interstitial space where nature and technology, the figure and the abstract, speed and anticipation intersect. We too stand in that interstitial space: as if recalling a memory before it's experienced; as if hearing a farewell without saying it.
AKSOY'S LANDSCAPE: WIND, SPEED, AND THE LEFT TRACE
The feeling that permeates the entire exhibition, for me, is the state of "becoming" translated into painting. The brush points not to a fixed outcome, but to a process. Wide sweeps, twisting arcs, suddenly interrupted rhythms… The canvases overlap like geological layers; sometimes a red stripe cuts through everything, sometimes the dark tone of cobalt weighs down the horizon. This language invites not only natural phenomena but also the speed of the age into the painting. While we sense the shadow of futurism, Aksoy's aim is not a technical eulogy for speed; he aims to establish a pictorial equivalent of our accelerated perception.
I believe what is crucial in these paintings is the simultaneous audibility of the gaze viewing the world from "above" and the breath of a traveler passing through. The white canvas, occasionally left exposed, acts as a bridge connecting the two paintings, offering clues to the preceding and subsequent scenes. Thus, the "landscape" ceases to be merely a picture of geography; it becomes a geography of time.
THE INTERSECTION OF EAST AND WEST
Aksoy approaches the landscape tradition from two perspectives: the East's inward-curving field of thought and the West's outward-expanding perspective converge in these canvases. On one side, vortexes, cloud breaks, and broken lines reminiscent of the earth's crust; on the other, architectural reminders, strips reminiscent of runways, flight paths… All these layers do not oblige us to a single interpretation; on the contrary, they invite us to watch rather than "read." Watching is also a form of thinking here.
TECHNOLOGICAL IMAGES, SIGNS OF FAREWELL
One of the exhibition's undercurrents is flying objects. The once-important imagery of airplanes, cars, and spacecraft has gradually become a metaphor for farewell for Aksoy. Neither entirely aerodynamic nor entirely fantastical; actors generated by the painting's internal logic, "carrying the story." Sometimes a single figure appears at the edge of a runway, sometimes a shadow cuts through the strips; They all point to that strange time when the future was written backwards.
A CLOSE LOOK AT A PAINTING: “RED LINE, BLUE VIRTUOUS”
I choose one of the large canvases in the exhibition. A vast white background is covered by layers of ultramarine blue and dark graphite. A red strip cuts through the composition; I don't know if it's a train track, a landing strip, or a wound in the horizon—I think it's all of them. This red pulses the painting. The dark and light blue vortex arcs swirling around it are like sound waves: they register not something approaching, but something long past but still ringing in the ear.
The brushstrokes are swift but not careless; they clearly define the direction of the movement. Dark bands, drawn from right to left, crisscross the gray-black layers in the background. This suggests that the landscape is more than just the "top" side: beneath the surface lies a crust; an ache rising upward from cracks. In some areas of the canvas, the paint is deliberately thinned; These openings, which reveal the underlying texture, make the feeling of incompleteness part of the composition.
Looking at this painting for a long time leaves me with two feelings: First, a sense of direction—wherever the red stripe goes, the eye follows. Second, resistance—the blue vortices want to swallow the red, the red wants to break through them. It is precisely here that "decisive moment" I frequently encounter in Aksoy's paintings appears: the future is a set of possibilities, the past a narrative that keeps changing. The painting carries both simultaneously.
THE AUDIENCE'S POSITION: FROM INSIDE OR FROM ABOVE?
One of the powerful elements that captivates us in Aksoy's works is the constant shifting of the viewing position. Sometimes we look down from above, like a drone view, sometimes we take the place of the lone figure standing at the edge of the runway. This fluidity is also related to the rhythm of today's screened world: Before one image ends, another opens; a map, a video, a news feed, a chat window… The paintings visualize this very sense of "succession." but without falling into the aesthetics of a fast-paced music video, preserving the slow time of the painting.
WHY NOW?
This exhibition, in keeping with CerModern's 15th anniversary, positions the institution on a threshold facing the future. Aksoy's canvases bring together ecological debate, the breath of technological speed, and the invisible vibration of individual mourning. Rather than a romantic representation of nature, the landscape is constructed as a space of our shared destiny. Here, the "future" recedes; yet simultaneously, the "remembered landscape" connects us to it. Because remembering isn't just about going back—it's also about writing forward.
As I leave, I'm left with this sentence: Aksoy's paintings aren't depictions of the world; they are ways of carrying it. As the wind changes, so does the direction of the brush. Within this transformation, we see the future-facing face of remembering.
Source: https://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/kultur-sanat/cermodern-de-zamanin-esiginde-siniz-aksoy-ile-uzaklasan-gelecek-hatirlanan-manzaralar-2445276