In his last series ‘I Own You’, Orhan Cem Çetin presents close-up photographs of objects that we own without knowing or we have already forgotten that we own. Embracing us like a fragmented solid aura, these objects have already lost their functions and are destined to be dispersed to our surrounding at a final point; objects that used to belong to someone else and will continue to pass into other hands before they disappear forever.
These photographs suggest that objects also have a life, when the scale is altered in their favour. Signs of erosion reveal that we cannot own anything in a single state and “owning” is a fabricated idea. Crystallised and no longer a coin, a blue disk looks liberated and on the run. Faded, erased and lost in composure, disappearance of people is now represented inside old photographs. Another consistency is the invasion of fibers and linearity. Apparently aligning, composing lines and chains and breaking of these lines for the sake of new possibilities are the issues located in the core of existence and disappearance.
Orhan Cem Çetin: Born in 1960 in Istanbul, Orhan Cem Çetin graduated from Boğazici University’s Department of Psychology, followed by an MFA degree of Visual Communication Design at Istanbul Bilgi University. With his 1993 Renk’Arnasyon series Çetin entered the canon of Turkish art history as the first artist to use computer manipulated photography in his work. In addition to numerous solo and group exhibitions, his works were featured in 'Past and Future', the permanent collection exhibition at Istanbul Modern Art Museum, curated by Levent Çalıkoğlu in 2013. In 2000, Orhan Cem Çetin released a mini-album, Renk'arnasyon through Karakutu Pocket Albums series, and his book, Bedava Gergedan (Rhino for Free), a "black humour" collection of photography and literature was published by Okuyanus Publications in 2004.
These photographs suggest that objects also have a life, when the scale is altered in their favour. Signs of erosion reveal that we cannot own anything in a single state and “owning” is a fabricated idea. Crystallised and no longer a coin, a blue disk looks liberated and on the run. Faded, erased and lost in composure, disappearance of people is now represented inside old photographs. Another consistency is the invasion of fibers and linearity. Apparently aligning, composing lines and chains and breaking of these lines for the sake of new possibilities are the issues located in the core of existence and disappearance.
Orhan Cem Çetin: Born in 1960 in Istanbul, Orhan Cem Çetin graduated from Boğazici University’s Department of Psychology, followed by an MFA degree of Visual Communication Design at Istanbul Bilgi University. With his 1993 Renk’Arnasyon series Çetin entered the canon of Turkish art history as the first artist to use computer manipulated photography in his work. In addition to numerous solo and group exhibitions, his works were featured in 'Past and Future', the permanent collection exhibition at Istanbul Modern Art Museum, curated by Levent Çalıkoğlu in 2013. In 2000, Orhan Cem Çetin released a mini-album, Renk'arnasyon through Karakutu Pocket Albums series, and his book, Bedava Gergedan (Rhino for Free), a "black humour" collection of photography and literature was published by Okuyanus Publications in 2004.