Not So Long Ago, oil on canvas, 44 x 54 inches (112x137 cm), 2020

When we need it the most we are told not to touch. Touching suddenly became the most scary and dangerous thing. After 100 days of self quarantine during the New York State lockdown because of the Covid-19 pandemic, I question along with many other anxieties of whether we can ever be comfortable to touch and be with each other again. In a couple of weeks’ time we, the lonely crowds of the metropolises have become more like strangers and lonelier than ever before. Social distancing, isolation and then quarantined on top of the unknown future made us realize the definition of freedom all over again. We realise how free we were even though we were not aware of it, and daily life was easy when we were not worrying about viruses.

I am an immigrant woman who, after a series of tragedies, decided to change everything in my life. Injustice, inequality, corruption, conservatism, everything became unbearable. Initially I quit my job as a landscape architect and went back to school for painting. Then I left everything; family, friends, my dream school, and immigrated.

Maybe it was an escape, migrating to the other side of the Atlantic. Might be the hope for more freedom. Or just to start over. While dealing with longing, and craving for emotional comfort my art has become about that place and forgets everything beyond that emotional paradise. I started to ask myself what makes me keep going? What makes me happy?

And the World Went Away, oil on wood panel, 12 x 12 inches (30x30 cm), 2020

My recent paintings orchestrate multiple figures entangled with each other surrounded by inflatables and toys, painted in vivid colors with details of textiles, clothing and patterns. Away from any kind of negativity figures enjoy the moment; freedom and love despite all the threats surrounding them outside of their confined environment. People are still aware of the short lifespan of that perfect harmony that will pop like a balloon soon. I use inflatables as a metaphor for our short lived contentment, the ephemerality of pure joy and happiness. They also represent the false sense of security and question our constant drive for satisfaction and pleasure.

Observing the loneliness and need for attention, accompanied with a consumerism frenzy globally, my art evolved from being about my own personal crisis, to capturing the universal emotional state, especially during the current global and domestic social and environmental problems. My paintings have become an exploration of definitions of freedom and happiness while expressing the power of diversity.

Buket Savci is a Turkish American artist. Previously a landscape architect she started studying painting in her home town of Istanbul. After immigrating to NYC in 2006, she received her BFA in painting from Pratt Institute,and MFA from New York Academy of Art.

She was awarded Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason Painting Fellowship at Vermont Studio Center and a three-month artist residency at Pilotenkueche in Leipzig, Germany. She has won the People’s Choice Award at the Jonathan LeVine Projects’ Delusional Art Competition, Grand Prize for See. Me’s Represent and Dave Bown Projects’ competition. Her work has been exhibited widely internationally and nationally at venues such as Ethan Cohen KuBe, Flowers Gallery, RJD Gallery, Field Projects, Kustera Projects, the Untitled Space, Art Hamptons, Governors Island Art Fair, The

Immigrant Artist Biennial in NYC, Corey Helford Gallery in Los Angeles, CA, Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, WI, Masur Museum of Art in Monroe, LA, Biennale Arcipelago Mediterraneo, Palermo, Italy, and Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair in Istanbul, Turkey. She had her first solo show at Olcay Art in Istanbul in 2014, two solo exhibitions at Kunstverein Ludwigsburg in Germany in 2018 and recently a solo show at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, OH.

Publications of Buket Savci’s work include; The Figure: Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture published by Skira Rizzoli, Istanbul Codex: Contemporary Artists From Turkey by Imago Mundi, Whitehot Magazine, Create Magazine, Poets and Artists Magazine, and the 7th International Painting Annual by Manifest Press.

She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Image and Text Courtesy of the Artist.

Edited by Sue and Emily.