The Bloom Room, Melis Buyruk’s Solo Show
17.05.2023
Reading 4 min

Leila Heller Gallery in Dubai is thrilled to present The Bloom Room, Turkish artist Melis Buyruk’s solo show which displays her latest artworks. It will run through September 1, 2023.

In her art, Buyruk explores man’s relationship with nature. When humanity started to “evolve” industrially and technologically, nature became material for its progress. As a result, flora and fauna lost their mystical and spiritual meanings: man’s relation with nature was alienated. Although humans physically depend on nature, they are also connected to the world of culture they have created. This way, a parallel living space outside their natural habitat was born.

Melis Buyruk, Sunshine 1, 2023. Porcelain, 22k gold decorated. 25 x 25 cm, 7 cm depth.

Buyruk reviews our relations with nature. “I am constructing an alternative living space which […] has disappeared [because of] the dominance that man has established over Nature and other living species at the expense of destroying them,” the artist says. “I am […] sorry that there is not much I can do beyond highlighting environmental issues with [my art] and making small […] modifications to my personal lifestyle. But I hope that does inspire thought.” Working on her dissertation enabled her to understand the destructive impact of climate change and pollution on the ocean and marine-based life. It strengthened her connection to nature and realisation that she is a part of nature.

In her intricate large-scale artworks, Buyruk blends botanical patterns and elements of the animal kingdom, creating flower fields. Realistic and meticulous, the flowers are monochrome and level, suggesting an alien environment. Buyruk’s artworks fluctuate between the boundaries of reality and surreality, representation and distortion. Hybrid forms depicted by the artist look kind of familiar but don’t exist: the viewer shifts between the knowing and not-knowing its elements. They make new understandings of our natural world possible; it could be the first step towards alternative insights in the way we live with the environment around us.

Melis Buyruk, Ameths Sky, 2023. Porcelain, 22k gold decorated. 25 x 25 cm, 7 cm depth.

The show aims to remind the viewer of their disjointed relationship with nature and provoke them to approach it more judiciously. Buyruk noted that while staying at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she was thinking about the instability of people’s control over nature. “What we experienced during the pandemic […] enabled us to face the weaknesses of the human species again,” the artist said.

About the artist

Melis Buyruk (b. 1984, Gölcük, Turkey) is a ceramic artist who resides in Istanbul, Turkey. In 2007, she graduated from the Ceramic Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey.

The artist creates detailed monochromatic artworks, in which realistic plants, animals, birds, insects, and human body parts (ears, hands, lips) become one. Thus, Buyruk aims to dismantle hierarchies of species and reject the idea of human superiority. Her medium of choice is porcelain: this delicate material perfectly fits for rendering details. Drivien by desire to highlight the importance of beauty in her works, she also uses 18k gold lustre, imbuing it with added value. As the forms the artist creates are fragile, she contains them in glass or plexiglass protective frames.

Melis Buyruk, Red Sky 1, 2023. Porcelain, 22k gold decorated. 25 x 25 cm, 7 cm depth.

Buyruk has her works displayed in many solo and group exhibitions across Turkey such as You are Here, Pg Art Gallery, Istanbul (2014); Never Enough, Pg Art Gallery, Istanbul (2016); What is Weird and Who is Strange? , Istanbul (2019); Alive, Pg Art Gallery (2018); Cosmos, Beymen Zorlu Centre, Istanbul (2017); Ah, Galeri Işık Teşvikiye, Istanbul (2017); Metamorphosis, Ada Han, Istanbul (2017); Dream, Hub Space, Istanbul (2016); Amusement Park, Galeri Nev Ankara (2015); and others. She has also participated in art fairs held in Turkey, the UAE, Israel, and Greece: Abu Dhabi Art Fair (2021); Step Istanbul Art Fair (2019); Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair (2019); Fresh Paint Art Fair, Tel Aviv (2017); Art-Thessaloniki International Contemporary Art Fair (2016); and others.

To learn more about The Bloom Room, please visit the show’s official web page.

You might also be interested in visiting Artist’s Rooms: Daniele Genadry.