Bozlu Art Project Mongeri Building is hosting Can Göknil’s solo exhibition titled “Maybe So, Maybe No” between May 17 – June 25, 2022. The exhibition, where the artist’s latest works produced after her 2018 retrospective will meet with the audience, reveals the versatile personality of the artist through the concepts of “time” and “dream”.
In addition to the books she wrote and illustrated, as a painter and producer of three-dimensional art pieces, Can Göknil has been one of the leading names in our art world since the ‘70s. Her exhibition titled “Maybe So, Maybe No” meets art lovers at the Bozlu Art Project Mongeri Building.* The exhibition takes its name from Ayfer Tunç’s book of the same name, which also includes a work by Can Göknil. The exhibition proceeds through two concepts entitled “Time in Time” and “Art in Imagination“. Göknil focuses on a variety of mythological stories and the continuity of planets and various celestial bodies (whose presence have shaped people’s imagination, beliefs, and perceptions of the future since ancient cultures) under new names and meanings in different cultures.
In the section titled “Time In Time” (named after Pertev Naili Boratav’s book of the same name), Göknil deals with the concept of “time” through a “mythological” infrastructure. In the artist’s paintings depicting the Ayous tree in codex format, we embark on a journey through time in pursuit of mythological scenes, planets, and myths. In this journey, we will witness humanity’s struggle to reach and make sense of the unknown.
In the works included in the section entitled “Art in Imagination”, we accompany the rhythm of the artist’s “imaginary” world reflected on the canvas. In his own words, Göknil summarizes her recent works: “I weaved time with art. In the loneliness brought by the pandemic, I placed my dreams and longings in my paintings.” Despite the pessimistic environment we live in, this world, where we pursue a joyful and happy life, opens new and promising doors for us. Surrealistic and humorous fictions, imaginary elements are plucked away from dreams and transferred onto canvasses and appear in front of the audience in a fairy-tale atmosphere.
Göknil has been organizing each of her exhibitions since the ‘70s with a separate thematic and conceptual coherence. Her exhibition entitled “Maybe So, Maybe No”, in which she deals with the concepts of “time” and “dream” can be seen in Bozlu Art Project Mongeri Building between May 17 – June 25, 2022.