Reality 1974

Editor: So, this is Ozdemir Atlan’s "Reality" from 1974, created with oil paints. It feels very fragmented and, I don't know, disrupted? What are your thoughts when you see it? Curator: This fragmentation, it speaks to the political and social unrest prevalent in Turkey during the 1970s. The abstract rendering of the car interior challenges a unified vision of "reality", doesn’t it? It makes you think about power structures. How does the car – a symbol of capitalist society and a very masculine society– relate to that sociopolitical moment? Editor: So you’re saying the disruption in the image mirrors the disruption happening in society? Curator: Exactly! Atlan is using the language of modernism and geometric abstraction, but twisting it, injecting social commentary. Consider also that in 1971, in Turkey, Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan, and Hüseyin İnan were hanged, marking a rupture. Is the artist showing us not just a vehicle interior, but also ideas surrounding progress, and, perhaps, the speed of destruction? How does the use of colour support this message? Editor: The harsh blacks and the juxtaposed blues, reds... maybe they represent the opposing sides in the conflict? And, how "reality" is split between them? I hadn't thought about it that way. Curator: Art often holds a mirror up to society. And, even better, starts conversations about what the reflections can truly tell us about who we are. Editor: I see it differently now. It makes you consider the weight that even an abstract piece can carry! Curator: Precisely. Now, what are we going to challenge *next*?