Cracks, Holes and Roses

Madé van Krimpen is pleased to present ”Cracks, Holes and Roses", the first solo exhibition by Ayşen Kaptanoğlu at the gallery.

Opening: Saturday, 18th of January from 5 - 7 pm

Her works investigate power dynamics, sexuality and gender, asking questions around violence, its origins and structures that reproduce it. Using memory and self-experience as means of assistance, she is trying to make sense of what doesn’t make sense in a way to deal with the anger and pain she has against all that violence in this chaos of a male-dominant society.

She states: 
”Cracks, Holes and Roses" is not a linear story, but rather a reflection of the journey I took as I process, transform and move through life. It's messy, it's fragmented. It's about the presence and the absence.

This time it has all started with my dislike of the red roses which unexpectedly appeared in a recent painting of mine, spreading across the pinky room of my grandparents. Pulling the petals one by one, I deconstructed the image of the rose and found wound and guilt deep into those velvety soft petals. The rose became a vessel leading me through the cracks and holes of the memory where I faced my wounds and fears in an attempt to transform and heal. “
 
Ayşen Kaptanoğlu (Istanbul, 1985) is an Amsterdam-based artist working with painting and animation. She has a bachelor’s degree in Literature and graduated from Wackers Academy in Amsterdam in 2021. She has recently been a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam(2022-2024)