Mithat Şen
From the Series "İstif", 2023
Parchment mounted on frame 153 x 94 cm
"İstif," established and developed by Mithat Şen in his early years, sometimes encompasses the body we see divided or whole, on canvas or stretched skins, within a compositional focus on writing. Departing from the conventional order of writing and organized around the relationship between letters in terms of space, fullness, and fragmentation, "İstif" establishes a special system not only as a variation on form but also by indicating the different stages units undergo in reaching the whole. The 13 units used in Mithat Şen's paintings, in this series, are encoded like an alphabet related to the body, and in the balance of letter arrangement and the journey from part to whole, they open up to forms that allow for endless readings, much like in nature.
About the Artist:
Mithat Şen was born in Istanbul in 1957. He graduated from the Department of Painting at the State School of Applied Fine Arts in 1981. He held his first solo exhibition in 1982 at the Galata Art Gallery in Istanbul. In 1990, he participated in the 44th Venice Biennale. He lives and works in Istanbul.