After four consecutive years taking part in Turkey's leading art fair, Isabel Croxatto Galería returns to the 15th edition of Contemporary Istanbul, this time held online through its new platform, Virtual Contemporary Istanbul. The fair will take place online from 19 December through 6 January in lieu of the live event, which has been postponed until late April 2021 due to the pandemic.
Revolutionising the art fair model with simulated tours and exclusive access to headline galleries and artists, Virtual CI enriches the fair experience and shares local and international creativity with a global audience. The platform will enable visitors, galleries, and artists to interact with each other, creating an intimate opportunity for them to discuss their works with collectors and aficionados in a versatile and professional environment.
Isabel Croxatto Galería will present a proposal specially designed for a unique online experience, drawing from its experience creating its own virtual gallery earlier this year, featuring large-sized artworks by the renowned Chilean artists Víctor Castillo, Cecilia Avendaño, Andrea Wolf, and Carlos Gallardo, in addition to Argentinean world-celebrated artistic duo Chiachio & Giannone.
Isabel Croxatto, gallery director and Ambassador of CI for Latin America, says: 'This has been a rough year for everyone, and I admire how Contemporary Istanbul is innovating, creating a new platform to present the work of our artists which now allows us to reach a global audience. Istanbul has always been so warm to us, and the artists we are presenting now are well-known and loved by the Turkish collectors and audience. Each year we would unveil the newest works and series from our artists at the fair, and this edition is no exception. This is a special gift for our Turkish friends, hoping we will be able to meet again very soon.'
Cecilia Avendaño presents 3 previously unseen new pieces from her acclaimed photographic series Enfermedades Preciosas, created during the quarantine, while we revisit Victor Castillo's series of mural-sized acrylic paintings We Were All To Be Kings.
New media artist Andrea Wolf arrives with a selection from her latest body of work After Nature, inaugural exhibition of Isabel Croxatto Galería's virtual gallery ICG+. Textile superstars Chiachio & Giannone return to Istanbul after their debut in Turkey last year, with hand-embroidered and soft mosaic pieces that challenge the ideas of traditional family bonds, including a tribute to Chilean folklorist and artist Violeta Parra.
In addition, the gallery has the honour of presenting for the very first time in Turkey part of the historic series Pixel Terror (1982) by Chilean artist Carlos Gallardo. Pixel Terror features self-portraits of the artist in different museums in Paris, in front of historical works of art, with his face distorted in the foreground, in what has been considered one of the first approximations to the 21st century selfie phenomena. The pixel stores and reproduces colour in binary code images; the pixelated as censorship, a confused image of the subject whose body is anonymous, a suspended identity where the subject is targeted, intimidated and immobilised by the photographic apparatus.
Virtual Contemporary Istanbul will be available to the general audience for free starting 21 December 2020 until 6 January 2021, at virtual.contemporaryistanbul.com, with a VIP Preview on 19 and 20 December.
