Eylem Aladogan

Born 1975, Tiel, NL
Lives and works in Amsterdam, NL

About

My sculptures and drawings are born from experience and from a fascination with the concept of power. What interests me is not just power in itself, but especially the way it is generated, especially the workings of willpower. However strong a drive such as willpower may be, actually harnessing it means overcoming often unavoidable existential fears. This coexistence of contrasting − sometimes diametrically opposed − forces, is one of the defining features of my work. In other words, my work involves an attempt to control the uncontrollable. The emotional and psychological processes that are encompassed by this effort fascinate me and serve as my point of departure.

The use of specific materials and techniques plays an essential role. The materials are often processed using a combination of traditional craftsmanship and modern technology. In creating sculptures, I see it as a challenge to be constantly searching for the purest form, the form most closely related to what I am trying to express. At the same time, the properties and limitations of the material are literally part of the work’s content: the material is a defining feature of the state of mind that the work reflects.

By involving the space in my work, and vice versa, I set out to create a functionally effective sculptural installation. Not just to pierce the sculpture's external boundaries but to involve the viewer literally and figuratively in the work - to envelop him. Both visually and in terms of content, I try to hold fast to a 'concentrated dynamic', to achieve continuous movement. In this context, I try to produce a constellation of shapes that appear to be seeking their own origins, and which seem at the same time to be, as it were, straining towards the future, and hence seeking to achieve a state of timelessness.

Education

  • 2004-5
    • Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, NL
  • 1996-9
    • Willem de Kooning Academie, Rotterdam, NL

Solo exhibitions

  • 2017
    • The Arch of Belief, Museum De Pont, Tilburg NL
  • 2009
    • Eylem Aladogan Volkskrant Beeldende Kunstprijs, Fonds BKVB, Amsterdam, NL
    • Intervention 11, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, NL
  • 2008
    • Eylem Aladogan, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, NL
  • 2005
    • ABN AMRO Kunstprijs 2005, Headquarters ABN AMRO, Amsterdam, NL
    • Aurora Solace, LMAK Projects, New York, USA
  • 2004
    • Army of Me, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NL
  • 2002
    • Pharmagenic Decline, Museum Het Domein, Sittard, NL
  • 2001
    • Birds, Gallery Romain Larivière, Paris, France

Group exhibitions

  • 2020
    • Rode draden, oude en nieuwe verhalen in kunst en design, Textielmuseum, Tilburg, NL
  • 2019
    • Cultural Threads, Textielmuseum, Tilburg, NL
    • Migrating Textile, Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam
  • 2018
    • Je marche, j'ouvre une porte, je ferme une porte, G+W Collection, Kasteel Wijlre, Wijlre, NL
  • 2016
    • Preview, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL
    • Meervoud, Emergent Galerie, Veurne, BE
    • 10 Jaar Volkskrant Beeldende Kunstprijs, Stedelijk Museum, NL
  • 2015
    • When I give, I give myself, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, NL
    • Aanwinsten 2015-Eylem Aladogan, Teylers Museum, Haarlem, NL
    • De Burgemeester van Veurne, Emergent Galerie, Veurne, BE
  • 2014
    • Network Clay: Grasiekwc, Landgoed Anningahof, Zwolle
    • Beauty of Violence, De Garage, Rotterdam
    • Coupe de Foudre, Landgoed Anningahof, Zwolle
    • Be Calm, Centrum Beeldende Kunst, Amsterdam
  • 2013
    • Signs Taken in Wonder, Mak Contemporary Art, Vienna (Austria) and Kunstverein Hannover (Germany)
    • Beyond the Map, Open Art Route Zuidoost, Amsterdam, NL