Despite economic challenges, this year’s Contemporary Istanbul highlights the city’s dynamic art scene, blending established and emerging talent and setting a hopeful tone for its upcoming 20th edition next September.
Perched high on one of Istanbul’s seven hills is an 18th-century fire watchtower that now serves as a weather beacon. Each night, it is lit up in one of four colours: red for snow, yellow for fog, green for rain, and blue for clear blue skies. Beyazıt Tower shone blue as the country’s largest art fair Contemporary Istanbul opened across the water in the historic Ottoman naval shipyards, a ritzy new redevelopment with views over the Golden Horn. On its banks, the outdoor sculpture exhibition The Yard returned for the fourth year, curated by Musée d’Art et d’Histoire Geneva director Marc-Olivier Wahler, with an animal focus that lent it the air of a scaled-up bestiary. Standouts included wrinkly basalt forms from Kazım Karakaya — if they weren’t made in 2012 one might easily consider them a Moo Deng tribute — and spare steel forms from Kazım Karakaya.
This 19th edition featured 53 galleries from 14 countries, with a special focus on Spain and Latin America. Particularly seductive were several expressionistic abstract paintings at Madrid’s Jose de la Mano from the late Lebanese-Turkish modernist Joseph Terdjan. Likewise, the lush, multilayered planty scenes, with photographs cut and spliced with acrylic to create beguiling depth, from Alexandra Rehder at São Paulo’s Andrea Rehder Arte Contemporânea. There was also a small survey of Spanish painting Born in the Seventies, curated by former Museo Reina Sofía director Juan Manuel Bonet. While it didn’t particularly excite, highlights included Guillermo Mora’s palimpsestic E2010 en 2019 (2019) and María Beltrán’s bathroom scene Doble Imaginado (2010). Outside of this guest country program, supported by Spanish governmental and corporate partners, it’s worth noting that Barcelona’s Galeria Joan Gaspar, who did a brisk trade in Miró, Picasso and Dalí prints, has been participating since the 2015 edition.
Istanbul itself has a particularly dynamic contemporary scene with a number of exciting young galleries. Yet aside from Sine Içli’s attractive botanical and posterior ceramics at OG Gallery, it was largely the city’s old stalwarts that delivered. In particular, Pilevneli delighted with campy Ali Elmacı works that variously included the circus maw-meets Big Buck Hunter Hepimiz vampiriz birimiz Hariç IV (2024), wall sculptures of disembodied hands clutching bouquets, and some remarkably adorable ghosts. Equally enjoyable in this vein were various animal works made from recycled materials, including Miguel Aparici’s dark academia dachshunds at the Amsterdam, Barcelona and Bodrum-based Villa Del Arte, and Edgar Grigoryan’s large, hot-rodded firefly at Istanbul’s Galeri 77.
Most galleries at the fair showed group presentations, with a preponderance of safe painting — unsurprising, perhaps, given the country’s rampant inflation and cost-of-living woes. As such, some of the most interesting booths came from farther afield. In particular, two Prague galleries stood out: Trafo’s sumptuous two-person booth featured Pavel Dušek’s painted metal relief interior scenes paired with velvety pink walls and lurid green reveries from Ester Knapová. Karpuchina Gallery meanwhile sold well with a kookily charming presentation from Julius Reichel, featuring dinosaurs, alien messiahs and cosmonauts articulated in knotty fabric against wood, accompanied by playful mixed media canvases. And Milan’s Galleria Studio G7’s selection felt like a soothing balm, with standouts including David Tremlett’s wry geometrics and Gregorio Botta’s subtle, minimal works of natural pigments in alabaster, or wax and rice paper.
Next year for its milestone 20th edition, Contemporary Istanbul will move to a permanent September slot to coincide with the return of the beleaguered Istanbul Biennial and a new Golden Horn art festival. Despite the ongoing economic crisis, the mood at the fair remained buoyant, with many works attractively priced to attract and develop a younger collector base. The weather report for its art scene — blue skies and clear sailing ahead — seems equally promising.
