“The Mole Cricket and The Night Guard Are Awake” is artist Aras Seddigh’s second solo show.
The distorted figures prevalent in her first solo show “Crossbreeds” resurface in this exhibition. Although these abnormal figures ignite a sense of familiarity, they do not belong to a specific time or place. Contrary to her first exhibition, the artist ventures out from the safe grounds of canvas, now accompaning them with sculptures, a video installation and an artist book.
The exhibition takes its title from the introduction sentence of the artist book. Rather than being complementary to one another, it aims to inspire a dialog between them. Seddigh’s works dabble between reality and fiction by seeking out where one begins and the other ends. “At one point does reality become a product of our creation? During the continuous switch between reality and fiction, how much is one aware of the artificial and the genuine? The production process echoes the inner struggle of the artist, but how reflective can it be of the issues within society? ” are some questions the artist explores in her works. Seddigh invites the audience to examine the uncertainty and dilemma of these two terminologies, namely the reality and fiction.
The works carry traces of object’s own memory while the viewers may attribute a meaning to them through their own experience. Discreetly the pieces exude the memory they have obtained during their production process. The production process, which tries to find a place for itself between fiction and reality, finds its self on the forefront.
“The Mole Cricket and The Night Guard Are Awake” tests the lines of reality as it drifts in and out of the dreamlike terrain created by the artist. By juxtaposing the reflections of reality with the individual’s memory, Seddigh creates an ever-changing set up with an array of storylines.
Tehran-born artist Aras Seddigh obtained her Bachelors degree in Computer Sciences from B.S. Asad University. In 2013, she completed her Masters degree in Visual Arts at Sabancı University. Her works have been presented in art fairs such as Contemporary Istanbul, Art Brussels and ViennaFair. Aras Seddigh is currently working and living in Istanbul