Depth in depth: Seeking dimensions outside dimension

The uncertainty principle in quantum physics; new discoveries in cosmology, biology, and other disciplines; theories such as big bang, black holes, extra dimensions, chaos, strings and even multiple universes… Such things are fascinating even to those without scientific backgrounds and for that reason they can have an impact on philosophy, literature, and different branches of the arts.

It is possible today to display the tiniest particles in the universe or the universe’s most distant and oldest stars and galaxies, some of which may no longer exist any more, as well as their motions in such a way that the human eye can perceive them. Many of these images can be found in publications as well as on the internet. All of this striking visual and written material also has an impact on artists.

Belkıs Balpınar is also one of those who is curious about the secrets of the universe and of existence and says she’s perplexed by those who aren’t. Her library is full of books about science, the number of which has been increasing steadily in recent years and to tell the truth, the works she produces reflect this intrinsic interest and knowledge as well.

At the outset she began making her own designs taking traditional kilim motifs as her starting point. However rather than repeating geometric motifs (like so many others trying to do something by starting out from the traditional), she chose instead a single motif that she enlarged to a considerable degree, deforming it (“playing with the kilim motifs’ genetic material” is what she calls it) as she attempted to create something new

Looking back at her work since she got started in 1986 we see that this exhibition is also a retrospective selection in which we are witness to an interesting evolution.

According to Balpınar, “Kilim patterns achieved their present forms having undergone a very slow evolution in which they were purified of all their superfluities down through the generations without any impairment of their essential symbolic appearance over the millennia.

For this reason, creating something new from them is similar to tinkering with the DNA structure of a living organism and producing a new creature. In the end, what emerges is something that is hybrid.” Nevertheless even in Balpınar’s early works in which kilim motifs served as her point of departure, there is already an investigation of three-dimensional depth.

In her subsequent work, the artist began using her own geometric patterns in order to break away from kilim motifs.

When that proved not to be enough, she began developing curling and rounded lines: forms that traditional kilim weavers had the utmost difficulty dealing with. This choice would give her even greater freedom. In order to add still more depth, Balpınar made use of knotted carpet techniques on flat-weave kilims in which woolen yarns that she tied in long, hanging piles resemble spatters of paint and create depth in depth as she searches for dimensions beyond the third.

Be it with straight lines or with curved, the artist was now able to express the third dimension on a two-dimensional surface. Breaking these up into fragments, she implied that there were also other dimensions beyond these.

As if the feeling of depth created by asymmetric spirals opening and extending in two-dimensional space were not enough, Balpınar fragmented and separated them as if to suggest that there existed something in the empty spaces in between.

Still not satisfied, she broke kilims free from their rectangular frames, spinning them out in order to reveal their cyclical movements in micro and macro-space.

As if trying to show the relative positions of galaxies in space or the relative movements of elementary particles, she applied kilim forms that she had woven on another material, felt, and expressed two-dimensional spaces seen from different points of view.

In recent years, Balpınar has begun taking an greater interest in felt in addition to flat-weave kilims. The fact that she is able to personally take part along with her assistants in applying a newly formed pattern to felt makes it possible to make changes immediately and this freedom also stimulates creativity.

At first sight, Balpınar’s work seems reminiscent of the op art movement of the 1960s that sought to create optical illusions. However the goal of these works goes beyond simply tricking the eye. Even though she sometimes makes use of optical illusions, it is clear that she does so in order to reflect spiral movements within different levels of micro and macro-space in a single image.

Belkıs Balpınar employs hand-spun woolen yarns dyed with natural dyes and the ancient kilim or “slit tapestry weave” technique found in traditional kilim textiles. But for all of this traditionalism, as she puts it she is a 21st century artist who attempts to show us the depths within depths and the dimensions beyond the ones that we know which she has created by showing the different spaces brought into being by movements unseen to us in the micro and macro-universes of a “Flatland” consisting of the surfaces of kilim weaves and non-woven felt. As Professor Tomur Atagok of Yıldız University writes:

Her knowledge of the traditional Turkish kilims, colors, shapes, and symbolism along with her workmanship may lead one to see the connection between the tradition and the interpretation but I think Belkıs has done even better: she has put her knowledge into her interpretation to discover movements and shapes in the universe in her kilims and felt objects.

No matter how one responds to her kilim or felt pieces, it is possible to see the planes in some of her work change relative to the standing point of the viewer. She invites us to discover the extra dimensions hidden in the shapes and textures in her latest work. - Amelie Edgü