Ansen’s 11th solo exhibition, Allegory of the Cave, is no less disturbing a show than the last. It borrows its name Book VII of Plato’s The Republic, in which Socrates relates ‘the most beautiful and famous metaphor in Western philosophy’.
For Ansen the Cave and the Gallery are one and the same. The artist draws on the metaphorical parallels between ‘images reflected on the cave wall’ (in the original allegory, used for people living in their own caves of perception), and ‘works displayed on gallery walls’. His baroquely surreal paintings are full of metaphorical narrative, and apparently all relate to ‘becoming free’. Since his first solo exhibition at x-ist in 2004, Ansen has created a unique style of digital art.
Issue 66, December 2023
Turkey’s Centenary Issue
