Taner Ateş

My practice focuses on unpacking and deconstructing media representations of the masculine fantasy. Primarily through printmaking I have been exploring ideas of rotation and revelation, through the subject of the internal combustion engine and the automotive industry. By focusing on the engine, I’ve been looking at the relationship between movement, mapping and drawn a connection to Islam and Islamic art. Growing up in an Islamic household my faith has influenced my entire life. Repetition through production and ritualist acts are themes also present in my practice.

To achieve this, I employ a range of printmaking methods, including lithography, etching, screen printing and various forms of monotype printing. Rotation is heavily involved in the process of printmaking with dense rotating wheels applying pressure, or the spinning of a handle driving a bed with both elements greatly attributing to the production of an image. These elements help outline the physicality of making print, processes I then link to the automotive industry through labour and broader western conventions of masculinity. My practice also employs sculpture, looking at the idea that revolution can reflect a form of circular movement that upholds the status quo as well as a radical fundamental change to a political structure through the organisation of a public. My recent sculptures utilise steel and ready-made rugs in a Turkish or Persian Style.