Leila Heller Gallery is pleased to be participating in the 17th Edition of Contemporary Istanbul 2022, open today, in booth T7-02. On view is a selection of new and never before seen works by Turkish artist Melis Buyruk, including her first-ever sculptures and works in black and grey. Melis's ceramic topography of intricate flora and fauna are encased in wooden boxes, and granted their own habitat. In a mastery of porcelain, the traditionally feminized and overlooked art form associated with domestic life is reinterpreted as a medium that points to bio-futurist tensions. Buyruk identifies and subtly blends patterns of vegetation and the natural world, creating porcelain flower fields. They are disorienting, as they evoke both artificiality and illusion in a play on logic. While strikingly realistic and incredibly meticulous, the porcelain flowers are unfeasibly monochrome, hybrid, and eerily level, suggesting an alien environment. Lit up, and enclosed in a box, the work is further imbued with notions of the fantastical. Fluctuating between boundaries of reality and surreality, the work reminds the viewer of our fractured and disjointed relationship with nature, and provokes a double consciousness. Pictured: “Habitat,” Infinity, 2022, Bronze & Porcelain, 30 x 22 cm. "Colour of Night," 2022, Black Porcelain, copper decorated, 147 x 117 cm. "Habitat Mini Series (Storm)," 2022, Porcelain, 30 x 24 cm. "Colour of Sun," 2022, Porcelain, 18k gold decorated, 147 x 117 cm. #leilahellergallery #contemporaryistanbul2022 #melisbuyruk