Arter presents retrospective exhibition of Turkish ceramic artist

Turkey's well-known ceramic artist, Candeğer Furtun, says that her artworks tell a story as a whole and that leaving any one of them would mean as if the story is missing a page.

"They all tell my story; they depict my life," she said.

Her current retrospective exhibition at Istanbul's Arter, curated by Selen Ansen, brings together her works from the 1960s to the present day. Within her works, it is possible to discover how innovative her approach to ceramics was and how she managed to explore new ways and concepts by creating ceramics.

The way she deals with history, culture and society's problems while giving shape to ceramics is philosophy. While the viewer sees the reflection of her thoughts in her works, we see how her willingness to discover the human body, movement and stillness open a new way of understanding the material she uses. Furtun moves gently through her material, creating an object and transitioning from soft to hard material. As she does this she experiments with raw materials, producing colors, clays and glazes.

Speaking about her exhibition, Furtun said she always maintained in her studio between her artistic production and life. The exhibition, therefore, witnesses her life through her artworks. It is possible to see rich forms and textures, archival materials and documents that open up her life as an artist.

Existential point in soil

Furtun is an artist who uses soil as a way of existence. She searches for metaphysical stands in soil. Even though, her creations on the one hand reflect onto different styles of the cultural and historical heritage of different cultures, such as Turkish pottery making, Ottoman clays and ceramics and Japanese ceramics, her breakthrough in...