Murat Pulat, 1978

Born in Akşehir, Murat Pulat studied at the Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts. Subsequently, he started painting in his own studio in Istanbul and participated in group and solo exhibitions in many different parts of the world. Pulat combines the traditional techniques of plastic arts and new artistic practices that have developed with the emergence of new technologies.

The rapid development of digital possibilities in the 21st century enables the speedy connection of different art disciplines via new technologies. Highly influenced by film aesthetics, which offer a repertoire of three-dimensional images, Murat Pulat has developed a technique that enables him to pluck memorable film scenes from the depths behind the “flatness” of the screen and restore them to a three-dimensional and palpable field. He takes a frame which includes a character “rescued” from the film and transposes it onto the wall in a continuous vibration that will constantly remind the viewer of the film from which it was taken. When you approach Pulat’s paintings, you realize that the main figure you see from a distance is composed of small fragments. While this is a reference to the pixel-based world of digital media, the dabs of different colors that form the bigger picture also make the painting seem to continue toward the void surrounding it, through infinite additions.

This state of continuity that increases as one approaches the pixelated painting is also present in his 2014 work “Untitled”, which is a reproduction of the Mia Farrow scene engraved in our memories from Roman Polanski’s 1968 film “Rosemary’s Baby”. Even though the artist detaches this frame from the many scenes of the film in which it is imprisoned, by projecting it on the canvas with a sense of movement, he reminds us of its continuity and emphasizes the fact that everything is part of a whole.