While there is much to worry about these days, including the extremely concerning climate crisis, one may find that talking ‘about the weather’
is not such an innocent combination of absurd empty words after all.
Canan Tolon
This catalogue was published within the context of Canan Tolon’s second solo exhibition titled About the Weather held at Dirimart from 23 November to 24 December 2023. It brings together Tolon’s large-scale rust and acrylic on canvas pieces that she created in 2023 in parallel to her long-standing sensitivity to environmental issues, as well as her works produced with the same technique in previous years. The bilingual catalogue in Turkish and English also features two insightful articles by the art historian Berin Gölönü and the curator Kevser Güler, delving into Tolon’s practice and the ironic exhibition title that alludes to not talking about the vital issues of our time. The texts are accompanied by Nazlı Erdemirel’s artwork and installation photographs.
Canan Tolon’s abstract compositions, which she creates with the belief that perfection can only be reached by chance, are formed when metal pieces, placed on the canvas to leave their marks, combine with water and weather, creating rust stains whose forms are difficult to predict. In her practice that embraces being dependent on the conditions of the outside, Tolon’s works can be read as a record of the processes that the artist initiates on the canvas, such as air movements, pollution, humidity and temperature changes, and wind, that are beyond her control. The resulting forms continue to be in constant dialogue with the viewer, inviting free association. Enriched by combining the image of history and imagination in the viewer’s mind, each of the works is an invitation to return to more urgent and vital matters of common interest concealed by small talks – i.e. talks ‘about the weather’.
