Alpin Arda Bağcık’s photorealist paintings take inspiration from defining moments in the history of the 20th century. His politically themed works are a critique of authority and a poignant comment on the delusion of power.
Bağcık titles his works after drugs that are prescribed to people suffering from various mental illnesses. His work considers the relationship between painting, photography and the archive through the remediation and exploration of history, memory and trauma. He examines the notion of reality that photography presents through his works of charcoal and oil on canvas. Through his paintings, Bağcık takes another look at the “reality” of the photographs of historic people and events that were transmitted to the public by the media.
Alpin Arda Bağcık (1988, İzmir) graduated from the Painting Department at Dokuz Eylül University in 2007. He currently works in İzmir. His solo exhibitions and presentations include: Red Prescription (Zilberman Gallery, Istanbul, 2017), Ambivalence (Zilberman Gallery, Istanbul, 2015), Volta Basel (Basel, 2016), and New Proposals section at Zona Maco art fair, curated by Mirjam Varadinis (Mexico, 2014). He has participated in various group exhibitions including Young Fresh Different-3 (Zilberman Gallery, Istanbul, 2012), Rotary Art Competition (Proje 4L, Istanbul, 2015), Borders and Orbits (Siemens Sanat, Istanbul, 2013) and Violence(?) (Contemporary Art Museum, Rethymnon, Crete, 2013). His works are part of public and private collections, a.o. the MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, Poland, the Salsali Museum in Dubai, UAE, the PAPKO ART Collection in Istanbul, Turkey and others in the Middle East, Europe and North and South America.

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