Eylem Aladogan

Biology, ecology, genetics, art from other cultures, media culture, architecture, modern warfare - there is little that does not interest Eylem Aladogan. And she expresses these broad interests in her work with just as many materials: ceramics, leather, rubber, glass, textiles, foam, hardwood, epoxy.  These are deployed with craft techniques as building blocks for often monumental sculptures and installations, in which everything merges together into a suggestive, sensitive and impressive image.

The piece of sculpture that Aladogan has made for the Sonsbeek exhibition rises up from the ground like a majestic building, evoking associations with cathedrals and mosques, Gothic and Moorish architecture. The left open forms are derived from knives or swords, cool and sharp, but form no obstacle to the red string of rubber that works its way up the palisades like a fiery snake. Everything in the work points upwards - it is an image of heroism  and the battle against fear. The title Mettle Rite refers to rituals for the display of personal qualities, of inspiration and courage. Hence it is also an image of longing and striving. As Aladogan herself says, ‘You have to keep loading yourself up with energy, like the tensing of a bow  before it shoots the arrow into space. This psychic tension is what I want to represent’.

A small-scale version of Mettle Rite, some of whose parts could be ritually moved, was borne in the Procession through Arnhem by the Second Guild of Artists.