Get closer for the shock! The art of Deniz Sağdiç

We have often emphasized the ability of brilliant artists to transform common and seemingly insignificant objects into artistic elements or works of art. Today we go further, introducing you to the genius of a young Turkish conceptual artist, Deniz Sağdiç, who uses waste materials for her works, otherwise destined to be handled as waste. As if that wasn't enough, the way Deniz creates her works is a real challenge to the eye of the observer, who is invited to get closer to the work, to be surprised and pushed to think about different aspects related to modern lifestyle. We had the honor of being able to ask some questions directly to Deniz, who with great kindness gave us his point of view on several important aspects of life, not only related to art, making us consider many issues of current matters.

Hi Deniz, would you please introduce yourself: your story and when you approached art the first time.

I was born in a family, almost all members of whom were craftsmen. My father was a glass master, my uncle was the designer of a glass products company, and my aunts were tailors. I practiced making stained glass in my father's glasshouse when I was a child. I was only 10-11 years old when I started to earn my own pocket money by making bags from cuttings of fabric at my aunts' dressmaker workshop and selling them to those around me in the summer months. During my adolescence, I was giving my father a hand while applying stained-glass to buildings. Therefore, I made up my mind almost at a young age that, in the future, I would lead my life with a job that requires creativity. How I would live during the rest of my life became definite when I got into the faculty of fine arts painting department through the talent exam

Here at Il Mio Salotto we love to promote peculiar artists, who have an uncommon approach to art. When, and why did you decide to go out of “usual” art styles and patterns? What was your inspiration?

As you know, I use waste materials in my art. Using these materials in my art is actually a living phase of the project I named as “Ready-ReMade”. “Ready-ReMade” project started with my bringing daily use objects into existence as works of art by various touchings. My reason for doing this was the conceptual art debate that we frequently uttered in the world of art at that time. As is known, the exhibition of ordinary objects as they are, instead of classical methods of art, such as oil painting or sculpture, is called conceptual art. Conceptual art can be accepted as a technique, but it is wrong to think that the concept in art is only possible with the conceptual art technique. On the other hand, until the last few years, almost all art institutions and biennials began to present conceptual art to the audience as if it were perhaps the best way or the only way of art. I started the Ready-ReMade project in reaction to this approach. I was touching them with classical methods of art such as painting objects with oil paint, hewing them as sculptures or reorganizing them in a certain order. By doing so, I was aiming to express that the concept in art is not possible only with conceptual art, that the concept in art has existed since before now, and even that without concept, art cannot exist after all. One day while I was doing those works, I thought why this ordinary object would not be denim clothes in my closet. Because in my daily life, as everyone else does, I was cutting, scratching or tearing them. This time around, I made a portrait of denim clothes by blustering all in my closet. After that day, the process of using only waste in my artworks started.

I come from Genoa, the city that “invented” the Jeans fabric. Why did you choose jeans? It is for the color shades, for the low cost, for the easy finding of it?

As you know, where and when denim was first invented is still a matter of debate. You know, weaving techniques were first discovered in Anatolia 9000 years ago. For this reason, it is possible that all kinds of woven products were discovered in Anatolia for the first time. On the other hand, There are many Ottoman customs records from the 15th century that it is imported a large amount of indigo blue dye from India. There are also customs records showing that these dyes were exported in large quantities to the ports of Venice, Genoa and Marseille, along with cotton fabrics. These debates about the origin of denim aside, denim is not only a tool or a material for me. Denim is a communication platform for me. The reason is the place of denim in people's minds. Imagine that, as people all over the world know the denim, seeing a denim garment on people living in the most developed metropolises or virgin geographies of the world wouldn't surprise anyone. If you are not a textile professional, you may not know the types of fabric; but anyone who sees denim recognizes it, at least once in her/his lifetime, she/he has touched it. Denim does not only belong to a certain culture or a country. Therefore, denim is native in every culture and for every geography of the world. Denim has been approved by everybody without discrimination of religion, language, race or economic class. When you see a denim garment on a head of state or a homeless person, you cannot find it odd. This equality, this democratic platform, this universality points to the universal principle, which people in good faith have been aspiring to create for hundreds of years, and which numerous philosophers have put their thinking cap on feeling around for. Despite the fact that denim finds such a global acceptance, unfortunately, I am sad to witness that some people even today see skin color as a reason for discrimination. This privileged position of the denim, which surpasses the skin, makes it the most unique product of our civilization. For these reasons, I use denim not only as a material but also a language.

In your ReadyRemade series, you went over the jeans to use waste materials as paper labels or plastic caps. Did you do it to send an alarm on the environmental cause, or there are other reasons?

Of course, besides my own artistic problematics, I am an artist who takes sustainability as an matter. I aim for people to stop and think about consumption via my artworks. On the other hand, I aim to inspire people about what they can do about sustainability. I say to people, "Look these artworks, if I can make art with garbage, you can do something about it in your fields of expertise or in your home".

Do you plan to use new materials? What are your thoughts when choosing a new “object” to turn into art?

Every new material is a challenge for me, actually a challenge to myself. When I m planing to use a waste material in my artworks, I hold this material in my hand and watch it for days. Then I experiment with that material with it, cut, bend or try to glue it. Therefore, in this process where I try to get to know that material, I almost turn into that material. At the end of this process, that material whispers in my ear, what I can do with it. Then our cooperation with that material begins, I give life to that material again as an artwork.

We see you create mainly human faces, there is a reason why? Do you plan to create other subjects?

The human faces I look at have a deep meaning for me.I think we, as humanity, often pass off the importance of the human face's act, which we especially call "looking." Looking is such an action that, despite not having a physical aspect, lands a punch on the person of focus. A pair of eyes looking towards you can tell you a thing or two. Even if we do not perceive most of the time, regard, rather than the words and gestures, of the person with whom we communicate form our opinions about that person. For this reason, I give a lot of importance to the look, the expression, and therefore the human face. I hold the view that the human face can best verbalize the feelings and thoughts I want to express in my works. Waste is what remains of people. In fact, we are what we consume. I think wastes when clustered with the human face, actually reminds much better "what" people are. Yes, I think the core problem of the world we live in stems from forgetting "what" a person is. The essential motivation of my art is to try to remind people of "what" human is. If we remember this, we will understand that many of the things we consume are not actually a need.

How do you start your work? From a picture? How do you act with the small parts to create the whole picture? Do you start by choosing the colors? Do you select the colored parts before starting or do you adapt them during the development of the work?

In fact, I first start with the subject of the artwork. I construct a human face in accordance with the emotion or thought I want to convey in the artwork. I choose various human faces from my collection of hundreds of images. I take the parts of these images that I want and are suitable for the subject of the artwork, and I bring them into a single human face. Then I choose the material that will best represent this face, mean represent these the emotion and thought I want to reflect. I turn this material into pieces of certain dimensions and shape so that can shape that face. And finally, I start to build the artwork piece by piece, as if putting these pieces of puzzle pieces together, of which it is clear which picture will emerge.

When people look at your works, they see the picture “disappear” while getting close to it, starting to distinguish the single elements and understand from what the picture is done when really close. This “brain deceit” is something you studied before to start or does it comes just by inspiration?

Actually, I take care to create this effect so that people can experience a shock. At first people think that these artworks are oil paintings and approach them. As they get a little closer they realize that I use each pieces for each color, light and shade. That's when the shock I want them to experience begins, they understand that this is not paints, they are the waste of the products they always use. I believe this shock is necessary for them to face this reality. What is used in the artwork is what they consume. Actually we are what we consume. These artworks are actually the work of all consumers, all human.

How many times do you have to go far from the picture to check how is going on? How do you live this process?

I don't want to prolong my sentences in the context of a philosophy of art, but I believe, the real talent of visual artists is to be able to look at life and the world from above their heads, as if from a drone. I never do to step back and look at my artworks. Towards the end of the artwork, I take a photo of the artwork with my mobile phone and look at that photo to see if there is a lack of light and shadow. My artworks are generally in large dimensions. It would take months for me to produce these artworks if I had stepped back from time to time.

Surely you are an inspiration for innovative artists. What you would say to any artist that wants to try something new?

There is a concept called "killing the father". For an artist candidate who has just graduated from the academy, this "father" is the academy or the teachers there. After a while, this "father" is the great masters in the history of art. A few years later this "father" is other current and living artists. The moment someone becomes a true artist, this "father" is who she/he was yesterday, mean her/himself. To make "the new", you have to destroy "the old". But in order to really destroy "the old," it is necessary to know "the old" very well.

We’ve spoken about a lot of female artists. You’re from Turkey, often here in the western countries, people see Turkey as a hard place for women. What is the real situation, based on your own experience?

Maybe about thirty years ago, such prejudices were easier to understand. Because there were no means of communication such as the internet, maybe it was necessary to go to that country and live for a while in order to really get to know a culture and country. But in today's internet world, it's really funny to still hear such erroneous opinions. In a culture that advises "if you fall at the feet of mothers, you can deserve heaven", can women be in more difficult conditions than men? If it is difficult to be a woman in a civilization and culture where the female rulers called "Ece" before Islam and the ruler or the spouses of the rulers called "Valide Sultan" after Islam rule, it is as much as the difficulties experienced by a woman in a Western country. Yes, unfortunately, being a woman still has disadvantages in every country and every work sector in the world. But I am a visual artist. I communicate with people through my artworks. When one looks at these artworks, there is no artistic context to be concerned with whether the artist is a man or a woman. Can art have a gender, Is this possible?

You had an exhibition in Milan in 2019, unfortunately, Il Mio Salotto was not born yet. Can we hope to see you in Italy again soon?

Yes, there were actually a few art projects in Italy that we were planning. But some of these projects were canceled, while others were postponed to indefinite dates due to the pandemic. I hope I can do some projects in Italy as soon as possible.

Speaking with Deniz gives us a lot of food for thought, and allows us to know the artist in a much deeper and authentic way, talking "with" a person is always better than talking "about" a person. For this we thank her again, and we admire her even more.