Artists

Gökhun Baltacı

Press release

kaufmann repetto is pleased to present The sky is black and golden and the moon is shining red, the first solo exhibition of Turkish artist Gökhun Baltacı in Italy. In this new series of pastel works, Baltacı’s vision unfolds as viewers navigate through scenes that seem familiar at first, only to reveal a deeper, more complex narrative at a closer inspection. What initially appears simple is soon complicated by subtle details — unassuming objects that, as they accumulate, begin to shift the tone of the work, creating a quiet but unsettling atmosphere. These meticulous additions form a constellation of references, drawing the viewer into Baltacı’s unique world, where the boundaries between the known and the strange blur.

Born in Ankara in 1989, Gökhun Baltacı took part in his city’s underground art scene already during his early years at the Hacettepe University, co-founding the Avareler collective, a street-art group that focused on thought-provoking interventions in public spaces of the Turkish capital. The strong sense of community that emerged from this experience facilitated intellectual discussions among its members, creating the opportunity of an anarchic artistic expression in a city that is mostly known for its strict bureaucracy and rigid politics.

The leap from guerrilla interventions with spray stencils on huge billboards in the city traffic, to oil pastels in the intimacy of his family home was “intuitive”, as Baltacı himself puts it. While transitioning to a more traditional medium, the artist focused on a more personal storytelling by gathering elements from his upbringing, and elaborating on them in a journey of self-discovery.