What happens when the mystic attractiveness that everything rotating around itself effortlessly has, meets with sculptures that give life to the “cycle”, which is one of the fundamental themes of philosophical, spiritual and even meditative tendencies? At the very first sight, these sculptures that begin to open the closed doors in mind one by one with their hypnotizing movement, are the result of a talent, which seeks and finds the answers to her questions in her works. In her works where she creates pieces that connect to each other havin been deduced both conceptually and formally, artist Günnur Özsoy pours the energy of every moment when she returns to her inner self into the curves of sculpture. The creator of works, in which organic forms hold onto each other with a complementary visual harmony, Özsoy puts her signature on eye-catching sculptures that are capable of illuminating free and timeless thoughts.
Bringing together her minimalist approach, which comes from her design education and background, with subjective issues she has constructed on the relationship between emptiness, space and wholeness, Özsoy does not neglect to protect her works’ aesthetic quality. The subtext nourished by universal sources related to the individual and woman supports the artist’s subtle touches during the process of shaping the material. Pursuing different techniques and materials throughout her artistic practice, Günnur Özsoy enjoys at this point the maturity of relishing variety and the pleasure of using her forms as keys that open doors to profound themes. The artist instills meanings into her sculptures, which have physically solid, smooth, bright and shiny surfaces that reflect the mirror image of visible features. These layers give away themselves by the domination of soft forms, they are fragile, fragmented, however they recall an undispersed whole’s struggle to survive. Depicting in general the existence of an individual in a society without getting lost, and in particular depicting a woman’s struggle for existence without diminishing, these sculptures point at the inevitability of a continuous cycle with their intricate forms that are perceived to be infinite from every aspect. In the works where elements such as emptiness and light, which are independent from the artist, are carefully controlled, the masses that have emerged from formal abstractions create grounds that are strong enough to carry the weight of the spiritual tendencies.
By breaking the static structure that is inherent to three-dimensional works that do not represent a specific figure or an object, Günnur Özsoy shapes them with a strong conception of composition, which has amorphous extentions without falling into the trap of decorative anxieties. Thereby, each work offering different effects from all visible angles succeeds in creating its own aura independent from the way it is exhibited. The sculptures that are hung create a natural attraction force that captivates our visual perception with their rotating movement. Hence it invites the ones, who do not settle with what is seen and want to reach to the conceptual, into the borders of meaning. The dynamic structure of the works that carry traces of specifically female body accompanies the artist’s style of expression, which she has reinforced with subjective references. For example, the work “Costa mea”, which means “my rib” in Latin, both reflects the imagery power of a mass whose integrity is disrupted on purpose, and also it reinterprets a creation myth that has been a source of inspiration for various disciplines from literature to visual arts, while keeping its topicality in our subconscious minds.
Rendering physically necessary the holes in her works that contain both a sense of volume and lightness, the artist brings a radical perspective to the concept of fragmentedness and the essence of this state. While wandering in innovative and free waters in this way, she continues her inner and formal discoveries fearlessly. Presenting multilayered tendencies under one path, Özsoy has an extraordinary approach that throws a curve at traditional perceptions about the art of sculpture reaffirms her place in the scene of contemporary sculpture.
*The title of the text is quoted from Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu’s poem “In Pieces”