Leyla Gediz' artworks are radically subjective. Each place, each person, each sentiment that appears in her work has its origins in a personal experience of the artist. Gediz herself speaks of a "visual diary". This highly personal reference is present in all works by the artist and endows them with a sensible coherence in spite of their diversity. Purely abstract forms and figurative elements, painterly perfection and comic-strip sketchiness, subtle humour and biting irony all come together in Gediz' work. Nevertheless nothing ever seems arbitrary, all is linked by an invisible red thread, which is the artist's personality.

Gediz' artwork is autobiographical, but not self-absorbed. The artist has a need to communicate, to converse, to enter into a dialogue with the beholder. She looks out for a partner, in whose eyes her works are reflected. This necessity is expressed in the exhibition's title: "It Takes Two" – in a conversation, in love, and in art as well. Gediz' works have something anecdoctic, but also something quite universal. They tell stories, but only in extracts, so the beholder is called upon to develop them further himself. The openness of the images allows the beholder to make them his own, to enhance them with his own associations, intuitions and desires.

Stylistically, Gediz' works are defined by a pronounced economy of means. The colour palette used within one work is limited, and the forms are clearly defined and reduced. It is exactly this simplicity that creates a certain topical ambiguity, which allows for the openness described.

Gediz' motives are also simple and common, but never banal. The painting "Nosebleed" shows the head of a young woman looking upwards. Her look can be understood to express many things: scepticism, mystification, slight amusement, astonishment or submissiveness. Which disposition prevails depends on the associations of the beholder. The same is true with regard to the crusted blood on the woman's nose. It induces diverse speculations about its origin: a harmless, common nosebleed? Or rather a serious illness? Maybe even an unfortunate downfall or a deliberate blow? The painting provides evidence, but no explanation.

"It Takes Two" (August 25 to September 28, 2007, the Fabian & Claude Walter Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland) – Gediz understands the exhibition title as an expression of the search for a human partner, but also of the quest for a bigger picture, for the link between the individual and the universal. By submitting her personal pictures to manyfold interpretations by the beholders, Gediz explores the nature of things, the secret that unites us all.

Images and text courtesey of Leyla Gediz, the Fabian & Claude Walter Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland and Galerist, Istanbul, Turkey.

LEYLA GEDIZ

Born 1974 in Istanbul. Lives and works in Istanbul.

1999 MA Visual Arts, Goldsmiths College, London
1998 BA Fine Art, The Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London
1997 Student Exchange, Staedelschule für Bildende Künste, Frankfurt am Main
1997 Still Life Competition, 1st Prize, The Slade School of Fine Art, London
1996 Steer Medal for Painting, The Slade School of Fine Art, London
1995 Still Life Competition, 1st Prize, The Slade School of Fine Art, London
1994 Foundation Course, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London
1993 Österreichisches Sankt Georgskolleg, Istanbul

Solo Exhibitions (selection)

2007
Fabian & Claude Walter Galerie, Zürich
Galerist, Istanbul

2006
Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles

2005
Galerist, Istanbul

2003
Galerist, Istanbul

2002
Galerist, Istanbul

Group Exhibitions (selection)

2008
Museum of Modern Art, Tel Aviv
"Sampling", Athens
"Last Things", Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster

2007
K2, Izmir

2006
Garantie Platform Contemporary Art Centre, Istanbul
Sommer Contemporary Art Gallery, Tel Aviv
Galerist, Istanbul

2005
"Eindhoven-Istanbul", Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, curated by Eva Meyer-Hermann and Charles Esche
"Urban Reality: Focus Istanbul", Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin
"Hot Spots: Istanbul", International Film Festival Rotterdam
Garantie Platform Contemporary Art Centre, Istanbul

2004
Aksanat, Istanbul

2003
Keciburcu, DSM, Diyarbakir
Proje4L, Istanbul
Museum of Modern Art, Saitama

2002
Nisantasi, Istanbul
Marmara University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Istanbul

2001
7th International Istanbul Biennal, Istanbul
10th Biennal of Young Artists from Europe and Mediterranean, Sarajevo
Sabanci University Kasa Gallery, Istanbul

1999
"Cool", coordinated by Giacomo Picca, London