Inside Tayfun Erdogmus’ botanical universe

Welcome back to AL-MONITOR Istanbul.

Most of my colleagues this week have their eyes fixed on Ankara, bracing for the NATO summit that will, by all accounts, paralyze the capital with motorcades, security cordons and an unseemly number of detentions. I propose the hedonistic path: a sweeping tour of the great things happening in Turkey’s three largest cities: a once-in-a-generation exhibition at Arter, a new gallery in Ankara’s Kavaklidere and a Michelin-recognized restaurant that has been making Izmir proud. Consider this your permission slip to dwell in earthly delights.

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Thanks for reading,

Nazlan (@NazlanEr on X)

P.S. Have tips on Istanbul’s culture scene? Send them my way at nertan@al-monitor.com.

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1. Leading the week: The alchemist’s atlas

From the series Untitled (Photo Firat Ruzgar)

Arter’s latest exhibition, “Atlas 1/137,035999,” leaves you wondering whether artist Tayfun Erdogmus’s studio looks less like a painter’s workshop than a natural history storeroom.

The exhibition itself is an array of leaves and flowers collected in nature, dried and catalogued in large notebooks, and sorted by shape and type. From this archive, Erdogmus builds his paintings: layering plant matter and minerals onto canvas, binding them with chemical and acrylic solutions, and coaxing the veins and stems of leaves into forms that read almost like calligraphy. The results sit somewhere between specimen and surface, between botanical illustration and abstraction.

Now 67, and with a practice spanning four decades, Erdogmus is finally getting his first institutional solo show in Turkey. “Atlas 1/137,035999” takes its title from the fine-structure constant, one of physics’ most stubbornly unexplained numbers: the dimensionless figure governing how light and matter interact, still awaiting a derivation that makes intuitive sense. Erdogmus uses it as a coordinate for a practice that moves between cosmology and craft, between the cellular and the cosmic.

“Radiant Fragments” (detail)  made with traces of dried plants, brass leaf, chemical and acrylic solutions on rice paper (Photo Courtesy of the artist and Galeri Nev Istanbul; photo by Orhan Cem Cetin and Eflatun Derin Cetin)

The Arter show, curated by resourceful Eda Berkmen, draws on multiple periods, bringing together previously unexhibited works alongside new pieces. It is a long-overdue reckoning: Erdogmus has shown in Berlin, Ghent, Tokyo and Seoul, his works held by the Central Bank, the presidency’s Tarabya Kosku and the Royal Palace of Jordan. Arter’s second-floor gallery gives the work the sustained attention it has long deserved. 

Date: Long-term exhibition. Free admission on Thursdays and daily for under-24s. Free shuttles from Taksim and Tepebasi.

Location: Irmak Caddesi, Dolapdere, Istanbul

2. Word on the street: Esca

Esca: beige-luxury inside and a great porch outside (Photo Esca)

The most enjoyable argument in Turkish gastronomy each summer is whether Izmir has overtaken Istanbul as the country’s most interesting food city. Esca does not settle the debate, but it advances Izmir’s case with some force. Chef Osman Sezener’s new restaurant, the latest venture from the maverick who took his family’s hospitality tradition onto the international stage, is tucked inside Istinye Park in Balcova. Even my general dislike of mall restaurants is overcome by the strength of the Mediterranean kitchen, especially its millefeuille potatoes. The porch is lively; the menu, keenly seasonal.

Location: Istinye Park AVM, Balcova, Izmir

3. (Beyond) Istanbul diary

Yildiz Moran and Sahin Kaygun at Splendid Palace (Courtesy of Galerist)

Ankara-based Galeri Nev ended its season in style with an exhibition by master ceramicist Alev Ebuzziya and joined forces with Galerist to bring together photographers Yildiz Moran and Sahin Kaygun at the Splendid Palace Hotel on Buyukada. The setting, a century-old hotel embedded in the island’s memory, does most of the atmospheric work. Until Sept. 18.

After Istanbul and Dusseldorf, Anna Laudel opens in Ankara’s Kavaklidere with “Housewarming Ankara” — a 13-artist group show including Belkis Balpinar, Ramazan Can and Ekin Su Koc —  next door to Siyah-Beyaz, the capital’s most storied gallery-bar. Until July 12.

The 33rd Istanbul Jazz Festival has already opened with a strong run of concerts and continues with tributes to Miles Davis, followed by Thee Sacred Souls’ Turkish debut and a performance by Robert Plant with Saving Grace. Senem Diyici receives the Lifetime Achievement Award. Until July 13 at Harbiye Cemil Topuzlu Open-Air Theater and 10-plus venues.