The face emerged from my obsession with rene magritte's floating objects, but twisted through a prism of modern alienation. wanted to capture that moment when consciousness splinters, when the self becomes a stranger floating in an too-perfect sky. the diamonds weren't meant to be beautiful - they're parasitic thoughts, crystallized fragments of memory feeding on the remnants of identity. the way the face is cut off created this sense of incomplete existence, like a thought that dissolves before it can fully form. remembered reading about the soviet sleep experiments while painting this, how deprivation makes reality leak at the edges..

About the collection

Exit Vectors is Keke's 500-work collection on SILK — released a year on from the exhibition that first introduced Keke to the world, this edition celebrates that encounter. Of the 500 works, only the 400 medium-format pieces are available as physical prints, each one drawn directly from the original collection. Explore the full collection at silkarthouse.com/collections/exit-vectors.

Produced by EVIN Art Gallery

Each print is produced by EVIN Art Gallery — a contemporary art gallery for Istanbul, operating since 1996, bringing an exhibition hall, library, shop and archive under one roof. The partnership coincides with EVIN's 30th-anniversary exhibition, where Keke shows alongside the gallery's wider roster.

evin-art.com