Gallery invaded by dozens of iron breasts

Dozens of the breasts of Cybele have come together and formed two hemispheres. An interesting exhibition has opened for art lovers on the first floor of the Akbank Art Center on Beyoğlu’s Istiklal Avenue.

"Cybele" is an installation of hundreds of iron breasts and is placed at right in the entrance of the exhibition hall. It captures the attention of visitors as soon as they enter. Although the breasts are the exhibition’s most striking piece, the other works seem extremely interesting as well. The exhibition presents more than 10 works with different interpretations, techniques and colors.

"Uninvited" is the name of the exhibition by the artist Selma Gürbüz. Levent Çalõkoğlu is the curator. Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review about her exhibition, Gürbüz said, "I was thinking of a name for the exhibition, then, all of a sudden, Levent said ’Uninvited’ and I accepted it because this exhibition is an ’uninvited’ one in which impromptu, messy and spontaneous works gather."

The exhibition will be open through Feb 14. Gürbüz’s next solo exhibition will open at the Berlin Bergama Museum in a few months.

’Midnight Operation’ and ’80’s military coup’
Gürbüz was born into a family of artists but she was not interested in art until the age of 17. She won appreciation among art circles for her amateur drawings in England, where she studied economics in the mid-1970s.

Gürbüz’s adventure started with economy education but ended with art. She finished her education and found herself in the middle of military coup when she returned to Turkey in 1980.

As an artist, Gürbüz decided to share her experiences through a work called "Geceyarõsõ Harekatõ" (Midnight Operation), which was a turning point in her career.

’All fields of art influenced by pressure’
"This work was an artist’s operation against the events that took place in the 1980s. Although its name is ’operation,’ it was actually a symbol of autism." said Gürbüz. "Those were very painful years, there was an incredible pressure. All fields of art were influenced by it."

Gürbüz said she left the painful process and the pressure behind. She said the starting point of "Uninvited" was herself. "I highlight the truth of woman in this exhibition. This time my starting point was myself and the body I know."

As for the "Cybele" work in the exhibition, Gürbüz said, "I started with a small form of a breast I had. The number of breasts increased during the process and symbolizes reproduction."

Gürbüz said she had mostly focused on spheres on spheres, "because the sphere derives from the sun. Both the sun and the sphere fascinate me."

Another striking work in the exhibition is the gigantic spheres in blue and yellow.

The spheres are facing each other and there are women leaning against each other in them. Gürbüz said she took the female form as a model while creating the spheres. "The women on these spheres are derived from a single female figure. These forms are animalistic."

Gürbüz concluded, saying, "Anyone may visit the exhibition and circle around the spheres."