Bora Başkan and Mesut Öztürk’s joint exhibition Nested will be on view from 3 June to 25 July 2026.
A snapshot of the seaside taken at dusk with the low-res camera of an outdated mobile phone; the grand lion of Knidos ascending beneath the scorching midday sun; young people diving headfirst into the sea from the rocks in the distance for the last time in the late afternoon; pensioners playing backgammon on the beach while they wait for their swimsuits to dry; an idle cruiser that was dry- docked in the 1960s and is now a maritime museum; a dog stealing snatching a rabbit from its cae on the restaurant’s beachfront in winter. The events take place on the beach. Impressions from different hours of the day… Figures and objects intertwine, become entangled with one another under the blazing or setting sun, or in moonlight. (Başkan, 2026)
Öktem Aykut has worked with Başkan and Öztürk for a long time. The gallery has organized solo exhibitions, and staged ambitious presentations at international art fairs for both artists. Both Başkan and Öztürk have settled back in Istanbul after spending several years in Berlin and Paris, respectively. Bora Başkan is known for his drawings and paintings; and Mesut Öztürk for his ceramic sculptures and installations.
The two artists’ work were exhibited together for the first time in February 2026 at the Artshow, organized by USGD. There is a reciprocity, a shared resonance in the work of Başkan and Öztürk, who have been pursuing their practice entirely independently of one another. Two bodies of work, echoing the two artists’ abstract style, are now brought together in Nested. The series that gave its name of the exhibition’s title was transformed by Mesut Öztürk into a new body of work: Flames.
With the Nested series produced at the beginning of the year, I began to break away from my belief in the perfection of surfaces. I also pushed beyond my own habits in the use of glaze and color. Now I’m exploring how to take this fracture even further. The surfaces are more broken, the colors more complex and interwoven. The world, really, is on fire. Climate crises, political conflicts, wars, migrations, economic fragility, the state of artificial intelligence… Everything we’ve grown accustomed to seems to be collapsing in flames. This restless yet heightened state compelled me to produce forms as sharp and arbitrary as flames – from a soothing material like earth itself. (Öztürk, 2026)
Nested is an singular collaboration between two artists who sense the rising tension in the world, in a gallery that confronts the same turbulent forces. It is optimism that smolders from within – it is a steadfast love of color
Bora Başkan & Mesut Öztürk
Nested
June 3 – July 25, 2026
