Pegged 2014

Curator: Fusun Onur's "Pegged," created in 2014, presents a series of ink and graphite drawings on paper. It has elements that recall conceptual art, a space I often find ripe for exploring identity and challenging established norms. What strikes you about it initially? Editor: I gotta say, it's making me feel...restless. These squares pinned up, they’re almost floating but also clearly tethered. It’s like sketches of frames searching for their content. Know what I mean? Curator: Yes, there is something in the visual tension of holding images with tenuous means. These simple lines, these shapes remind me of grids—a modernist visual element she seems to be taking apart. Are the lines a subversion of architectural design? Is this fragmentation intended as something other than order? Editor: Absolutely! Maybe they're portraits without the people? Or maps where the land's been erased? Plus, those bright pink pegs just POP against the grayscale background. Such an intentional use of a limited palette that I really admire. Curator: And isn't it fascinating to consider that Fusun Onur created this well into her seventies? There's a kind of late-career experimentation at play. Her drawing echoes so many feminist artists that worked to expose systems. The drawing on simple materials disrupts something. What I see here may connect to challenging established conventions of display and artistic presentation. The very act of "pegging" the image also contains so much potential context. Editor: Definitely! It’s deceptively simple, but so much thought obviously went into creating a composition out of humble materials and everyday imagery. It also is incredibly elegant. Curator: Agreed. These frames almost suggest that, within our memories, certain edges fade more than others. Overall, Fusun Onur prompts me to reevaluate space, perception, and power itself. Editor: For me, this drawing feels like a prompt to be creative! "Pegged" is definitely one of those art pieces I want to sit with again and again.