ISTANBUL SIYAH BEYAZ

DEVRİM ERBİL × ÖZİPEK

Istanbul – Black & White (İstanbul Siyah Beyaz)

Istanbul – Black & White is Devrim Erbil’s meditation on contrast — not only of color, but of existence itself.

Here, Istanbul is stripped of all distraction. No color seduces the eye. What remains is structure, rhythm, and memory. The city is reduced to its essence: light and shadow, presence and absence, silence and density.

The composition unfolds as a grid — a fragmented cartography of Istanbul. Each square holds a different fragment of the city’s soul: flowing lines, clustered marks, quiet voids, restless movements. Together, they form a mosaic of time, suggesting that Istanbul is not one city, but thousands layered atop one another.

Black and white are not opposites here; they are collaborators. White breathes, black anchors. The balance between them mirrors the city’s dual nature — chaos and order, spirituality and material life, permanence and decay.

This work reflects Erbil’s lifelong exploration of Istanbul as an idea rather than a place. The grid becomes a conceptual framework, allowing the viewer to wander through moments, neighborhoods, and emotions without a fixed path. It is a city remembered, not observed.

Özipek’s interpretation elevates this vision into an extraordinary woven archive. Each square is rendered with astonishing precision, preserving Erbil’s intricate line language knot by knot. The silk surface introduces subtle tonal shifts as light moves across it, ensuring that the composition is never static — always alive.

Istanbul – Black & White is a work of restraint and intelligence. It speaks to collectors who understand that true power in art often lies in what is withheld rather than what is shown.

This is not a depiction of Istanbul.
It is its pulse — reduced to rhythm, contrast, and timeless form.