“In everyday life, small subcultural practices break away from the realities accepted by the dominant culture, creating a unique world of their own.”
Dick Hebdige, “Subculture: The Meaning of Style”
Ferruh Karakaşlı’s solo exhibition, “Chaotic Harmony” which will open on February 12, 2025, presents a selection of works from four different series. The exhibition aestheticizes the marginal, unseen, and overlooked aspects of subcultures that deviate from dominant cultural values within society. The symbols, images, signs, and icons in Karakaşlı’s works render visible the subcultures that emerged after World War II in the West as symbolic opposition to the established order, symbolically disrupting the language of the dominant culture on a new surface.
Karakaşlı, who has worked in the studios of Austrian artists such as sculptor and painter Alfred Hrdlicka and Hundertwasser in Vienna, incorporates symbols, urban signs, distorted forms, natural objects, geometry, and cultural motifs into his production. His work reflects a harmonious fusion of chaos, creativity, color, and imagery. The artist makes these cultural phenomena visible as they are, presenting their aesthetic potential within their own context. He invites the viewer to experience the city’s reflections as a moment of encounter.
The “Viennese Era” category depicts the loneliness and inner conflicts of authoritarian figures, rendered through free brushstrokes and polychromatic colors. The “creative chaos” that Karakaşlı refers to is reflected in a world where figures and colors are brought together in a seemingly disordered manner. The artist constructs this chaotic structure both physically and emotionally. With a pop-surrealist approach, he builds a language of geometric abstraction and figurative analysis.
As part of the “Urban Tribe” series, Karakaşlı’s narrative draws from 2000s street culture, portraying the symbolic presence of various subcultural groups such as Bears, Chaps, Furries, and Gangure Girls. His work constructs a symbol of solidarity and celebration of difference within these groups, emphasizing their unique identities.
Another significant theme in the exhibition, the “Authentics” category, presents emotional expression through the artist’s use of color palettes. The contrasting yet harmonious impact is conveyed, establishing a balance between light and dark. These works allow for the aestheticization of forms of self-expression that defy social norms.
Karakaşlı’s paintings evoke a sense of syncrodestiny born from the fusion of chaos and aesthetics. The “Cosmic Lines” category symbolizes the order of the universe and the chance encounters within it, reminding the viewer of a desire to find a place in the cosmos. Each work, through complementary colors and forms, integrates like a part of a cosmic web, aiming to connect the viewer with a universal harmony.
Coordinated by Begüm Gazioğlu Ballı, “Chaotic Harmony” runs until March 20, 2025, offering an exploration of subcultures, urban dynamics, and cosmic order, inviting both personal and collective engagement.
