Füsun Onur

Füsun Onur, who was born in Istanbul in 1938 and is currently based there, is one of the most outstanding artists working in Türkiye today. Although her impressive and varied oeuvre has been readily accessible to an international audience in group exhibitions on a regular basis, it has not been sufficiently appreciated. The first survey exhibition of her work was held at Arter in Istanbul, ten years ago. The Museum Ludwig is now presenting her work to a larger audience in a major retrospective.

Onur grew up in Istanbul, where she studied sculpture at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts between 1957 and 1960. After graduating from the academy, a Fulbright scholarship took her first to the American University, Washington D.C., US, where she studied philosophy, then to the Maryland Institute College of Arts where continued her studies in art. As a student Onur had already felt encouraged to develop her own artistic perspective, and she still pursues this goal today. Her early work, which cannot be categorized in any of the art movements of the time, conveys an idea of her independence. Her sculptures combine a visual vocabulary employing elements of abstraction, Constructivism, and Minimalism with humor.

A reoccurring element in Onur’s work is her connection to Istanbul and her family’s home in Kuzguncuk. It is filled with furniture and mementos that date to the early twentieth century. Located directly on the Bosporus, the house served Onur as a starting point for new works, enabling her to create pieces that often evoke the experience of living on the water with their constantly changing, new aesthetic forms.

Each new invitation to participate in an exhibition gives the artist the opportunity to use the venue as a point of departure for her contribution. This allows her to create works that react to social developments and cultural politics. For example, she responded to the painting hype of the 1980s by fashioning paintings that expand into space. Her installations, which were produced largely in connection with European invitations, critically reflect on Western expectations in the 1990s and 2000s. Her works challenge visitors to give space to their own imagination. This is especially the case for the synesthetic installations in which Onur transfers music into the surroundings using rows of everyday objects. Most recently, Once upon a Time, her contribution to the Turkish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2022, brought her back into the public eye. The large-format installation consists of miniature figures hand-made from wire that invite visitors into a world of fantasy.

Yilmaz Dziewior, director of Museum Ludwig: “Füsun Onur has remained to this day an important reference point for the Turkish art scene. As one of the few female sculptors, she has always waved aside the expectations placed upon her and created her own artistic independence. Thus, I am very delighted that the Museum Ludwig is able to strengthen this important artist’s perspective with the exhibition.”

The exhibition is funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation). Funded by the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media). Furthermore it receives generous support by the Kunststiftung NRW, the REWE Group (superior partner), the Peter and Irene Ludwig Foundation, the Gesellschaft für Moderne Kunst am Museum Ludwig, and the BEATRIX LICHTKEN STIFTUNG. RIMOWA is innovation partner of the Museum Ludwig. ARTE is media partner.

The exhibition is produced in collaboration with Arter, Istanbul.

Curators: Barbara Engelbach (Curator, Museum Ludwig) & Emre Baykal (Chief Curator, Arter)

Catalogue
A catalog Füsun Onur. Retrospective will be published in conjunction with the exhibition, edited by Barbara Engelbach and Emre Baykal, with contributions by Merve Yeşilada Çağlar, Yilmaz Dziewior, Barbara Engelbach und Emre Baykal, Süreyyya Evren, Füsun Onur, Nilüfer Şaşmazer, German/English, partly Turkish, design by Esen Karol, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, Cologne, ISBN 978-3-7533-0557-8, 34.80 EUR