WHAT REMAINS OF LIGHT?
MAY 18 - JUNE 23, 2024
OPENING RECEPTION
SATURDAY, MAY 18 — 5-8 PM
POMPEI is pleased to present WHAT REMAINS OF LIGHT?, a two-person exhibition bringing together new works by Alessia Reggiani and Baris Gokturk.
“Nights and days follow one another. A perpetual alternation changes the perception of the works and of their relationship. Plastic light–waste and opportunities. Days fly by. Light caresses the room. Colors change. Materials cannot be recognized. Everything seems shrouded in mist. The moon and the sun take each other’s place in the sky. Their light refracts through the skylight of Pompei giving the space different possibilities for interpretation. Each day is a performance that lasts from dawn to dusk without any interruption. An interplay of light and shadow that builds a veil of warm colors, with sparkles that highlight unrecognizable living beings.
In What remains of light? Alessia Reggiani and Baris Gokturk gives centrality to matter. The old and the new are alternated. The lights and the ruins play a pivotal role. Discarded materials take center stage. Long sheets of vinyl plastic capable of unrevealing new faces, new connections, new environments are countered by fragmented remnants of the capitalist society; the vinyl veils the scraps of consumerism. Leftovers.
Alessia Reggiani developed a monument to light and its various perceptions. Lux(2024) is experiential and performative as it undergoes changes and mutations throughout the day transversing the circadian cycle. The artist’s path it is tangled with many intersections with the light and its perception, as a lifelong companion. Warm and cold, enveloping, and traumatic: rich in joy and pain. Waste materials play a key role in the refraction of the light: scraps, dusty particles, remnants of paint and living materials that adhere to the sticky sheets. Light brings them back to life, offering a unique perspective and transparency, the chance to alter with the passing of time.
Baris Gokturk made his pieces out of leftovers. Remains, remnants, fragments of other sculptures made of ruins from others: a loop of misleading prototypes. Illusion and darkness are the main themes in this body of work. Heavy or light, what's fake or real? Who minds. Residue or something new? Who cares. Everything is a particle of something else. Everything is singular, but certainly reusable in creating something "unproperly new". Light stones, brand new ruins; cultural remnants of society sitting on small shrines in shadow.
Contemporary art is about relationships and the bond between these two artists plays a crucial role here. They act as performers of their individual pursuits and their artistic connection: as light and darkness, they have an appointment on the margin.
…and what remains is light.”
-Arianna Sollazzo
Alessia Reggiani, an Italian artist based in New York City, was born in the late 1980s into a family of lighting designers. Her formative years were immersed in the interplay of artistic innovation and traditional Italian values. Growing up in an environment where light and shadow intricately orchestrated the drama of existence, Alessia's artistic expression began to take shape, influenced by the unspoken dialogues between these primal forces.
In her twenties, Alessia ventured to New York to pursue her passion for art. She obtained a BFA in Studio Art from Parsons, The New School (2017) and an MFA in Sculpture from SUNY Purchase (2019). Seeking to deepen her understanding of the interplay between space and illumination, she further honed her skills with a certificate in interior lighting design from Parsons, The New School (2023).
Alessia's artistic journey has been marked by numerous exhibitions, including "Fragments" at Fonografia Ambiente in Milan, "Muscle Memory" at 347 Broome St gallery in New York, and "Beyond the Pussy" at WAA in Costa Rica. Additionally, she served as an artist in residence at Soma Mexico in 2018.
Baris Gokturk is a Turkish artist living and working in Brooklyn, New York.
A graduate of of Columbia University’s MFA program in sculpture and Hunter College's MFA program in painting, Baris was an ApexArt fellow in Seoul, artist-in-residence at YADDO, LMCC and ISCP, a participant in SOMA Mexico as well as at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.
His solo exhibitions Public Secret (2020) and Scanner/Tarayan (2023) were on view at Helena Anrather Gallery in New York and Galeri Bosfor in Istanbul. His work has been featured in ArtForum, The BOMB Magazine and The Brooklyn Rail among others.
Recent museum projects and exhibitions include SECCA in Winston-Salem, The Jewish Museum in New York, The Frost Art Museum in Miami, and Pera Museum in Istanbul. He completed public commissions by Columbia University’s Butler Library and The Public Art Fund in New York.
Baris is the co-founder of Junte, an arts and culture project in Puerto Rico currently being incubated at The New Museum’s NEW INC.
POMPEI is a creative project space and gallery founded by J Grabowski and Jacqueline Pompei. POMPEI is open to the public by appointment.