Artists

Demir, George

Keeping Up With Corç, George, Corç/George?, 2019
(c) George Demir; Foto: George Demir

George Demir’s Iconoclasm – Iconodulism (2019) consists of three gilded objects of great personal significance. Despite their everyday origins, Demir refers to them as “idols,” “fetishes,” or “totems”— things that exude a power from which the transfixed cannot easily escape. Demir manifests this with a lengthy process that involves covering the objects in layers of gold. In doing so, he references the application of bits of gold leaf to statues of religious significance as an expression of piety, a widespread practice in Buddhist and Hindu cultural circles. The countless gilded layers change the objects, altering their original form to create a new gestalt. Demir views the gilding of an object beyond recognition as a variation on iconoclasm, albeit one that - in contrast to the hostility of its “image-stormers” - stems from a kind of reverence.
In a similar vein, Demir’s installation Keeping Up With Corç, George, Corç/George (2019) looks at the power seemingly ordinary things can take on - particularly those whose meaning lies in the social. The work consists of a cabinet-like display to which the artist has attached various items of clothing and furnishings, all symbolizing his transition from a working-class migrant milieu to a privileged, predominantly white art world. Formally organized by principles of sequence and collage, the work points to gradual changes the artist underwent as part of his transformation process. The work is not an affirmation of a supposedly successful “ascent.” Instead, it speaks to the boundaries that social groups draw around themselves through their respective habitus, and acknowledges that overcoming such boundaries is not the frictionless experience one might hope it would be. As an artist, for example, George Demir opted to change his first name Corç so as to better navigate a society that insisted on reproducing the distinction between itself and him with a mispronunciation of his name. The titular Keeping Up With is a reference to the reality TV series Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Demir uses its semantic range to advance a more cynical commentary. In his case, “Keeping Up” becomes keeping pace, an expression of the effort it takes to break into a different social class.

Text: Sebastian Schneider; englische Übersetzung: Amy Patton

George Demir’s Iconoclasm – Iconodulism (2019) consists of three gilded objects of great personal significance. Despite their everyday origins, Demir refers to them as “idols,” “fetishes,” or “totems”— things that exude a power from which the transfixed cannot easily escape. Demir manifests this with a lengthy process that involves covering the objects in layers of gold. In doing so, he references the application of bits of gold leaf to statues of religious significance as an expression of piety, a widespread practice in Buddhist and Hindu cultural circles. The countless gilded layers change the objects, altering their original form to create a new gestalt. Demir views the gilding of an object beyond recognition as a variation on iconoclasm, albeit one that - in contrast to the hostility of its “image-stormers” - stems from a kind of reverence.
In a similar vein, Demir’s installation Keeping Up With Corç, George, Corç/George (2019) looks at the power seemingly ordinary things can take on - particularly those whose meaning lies in the social. The work consists of a cabinet-like display to which the artist has attached various items of clothing and furnishings, all symbolizing his transition from a working-class migrant milieu to a privileged, predominantly white art world. Formally organized by principles of sequence and collage, the work points to gradual changes the artist underwent as part of his transformation process. The work is not an affirmation of a supposedly successful “ascent.” Instead, it speaks to the boundaries that social groups draw around themselves through their respective habitus, and acknowledges that overcoming such boundaries is not the frictionless experience one might hope it would be. As an artist, for example, George Demir opted to change his first name Corç so as to better navigate a society that insisted on reproducing the distinction between itself and him with a mispronunciation of his name. The titular Keeping Up With is a reference to the reality TV series Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Demir uses its semantic range to advance a more cynical commentary. In his case, “Keeping Up” becomes keeping pace, an expression of the effort it takes to break into a different social class.

Text: Sebastian Schneider; englische Übersetzung: Amy Patton

Keeping Up With Corç, George, Corç/George?, 2019
(c) George Demir; Foto: George Demir