Lüfer / Emre Taskin
Selected paintings
New York
01—11
These paintings are a selection from a larger body of work. All works are currently stored rolled and unstretched; some titles and dimensions remain to be confirmed.
The Burden and the Owl
Oil and acrylic on unstretched canvas
The Society of Those Who Look but Do Not See
By Lüfer
Anyone who looks but cannot see can join. There isn’t much to come and see. What matters is looking without seeing, Not seeing and looking away. For this reason, all contact between our members is forbidden. This society was not founded out of the sensitivity such prohibitions demand. Membership is not, and cannot be, granted to those with hope or those without it. Without support from any institution, organization, or political party, we work for our members’ comfort.
Painting, between abstraction and figuration.
Explore the works
Interactions
Acrylic on unstretched canvas
Work 03
Comfort and peace. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t you like to do something for yourself, for your future … I don’t know? … For your family? I used to be like you. Pessimistic, scared, helpless, hopeless, suicidal. The sun never rose in my city. Just like yours. What a coincidence, huh?
Self Portrait #5
Acrylic on unstretched canvas
Work 05
Always pain. Actually, it’s no coincidence. That’s life out there. It keeps coming at you. You look for a blank, flat space to stare at. But the more you look, the deeper you sink into its chaos. You want to get lost, melt away, disappear, but it’s no use. All you can do at that moment is look without seeing. But will that moment ever go away?
Streets of my Mind
Acrylic and permanent ink on unstretched canvas
Work 07
Every picture hanging on the walls of power is rotting. That old smell is always in my nose. The smell of mold and rot. Perhaps seeing but being unable to speak is the right thing after all. But who made the rules, anyway? I made one, you made one. Then anyone and everyone started making rules. Well, the Society of Those Who Look but Do Not See turns a deaf ear to all this. Would you like to turn a deaf ear with us?
Work 08
Greed is a Silent Killer
Acrylic and oil on unstretched canvas
Maybe living at the extremes wears you out. But sometimes you have to be brave in life. Life is like a pimp and his whore. Like you and life. Like me and my helplessness. Like hope and destruction. Like rich and poor. Like iron that breaks before its breaking point. Those who look are blind. So are those who don’t.
Untitled
Acrylic on unstretched canvas
All those words spoken, All those words written. Nobody listened or read. Come on, join us.
Disaster
Oil on unstretched canvas
One of the killer’s hands is in my pocket, the other in yours. My hand holds yours. And your hand is in the killer’s pocket. Life stretches out before us. And we are dancing.
“aitsizlik”
The sense of not belonging solely to any culture, country or nation.
My earlier practice explored live art, video, and photography. Through painting, I have found my truest form of expression, and it is now the focus of my work. I return to questions of identity and belonging, and to the human condition. Through the work, I want to challenge familiar ideas about who we are and where we belong, and to keep asking what human failure can teach us.
Lüfer
Emre Taskin
Lüfer is the artist name of Emre Taskin, a New York-based painter. He holds a BA in Performing Arts from London Metropolitan University. His earlier practice explored live art, video and photography. Through painting, he has found his truest form of expression, and it is now the focus of his work. Questions of identity and belonging remain at the centre of his practice.
- Based in
- New York
- Education
- BA, Performing Arts
London Metropolitan University
In these days when drunkenness carries us away from ourselves, Engaging in useful work should be an effort we all share. And this shared effort gathers beneath our society’s roof. Let our efforts not go to waste.