A massive dark blue baseball cap, featuring a custom red and white yin-yang emblem—complete with an evil eye in the red section, Somon’s signature motif—hangs from the ceiling by a translucent cord in the ground-floor space of Barın Han. This bold piece immediately captures attention upon entering the basement-like exhibition space, setting the tone for street artist Somon’s solo show, Blood Semt Magik.
The first installation inside the cap offers a plot twist: the faces of men stand side by side, each surrounded by six white wings. Their faces are obscured, and they wear caps adorned with a central eye, evoking the imagery of a third eye. This installation perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the exhibition—an eclectic blend of Gen Z culture, cool-kid aesthetics, rap influences, and a US-centric, street-style sensibility. The canvases themselves, painted with spray paint and car spray paint, further amplify the raw, urban energy.
Somon, whose real name is Sami, is known for his striking murals around Istanbul, including his work on the İclal Karabekir Wall in Kadıköy, where a purple shark-headed figure with piercing yellow-green eyes devours a man’s head, surrounded by red-pink waves. In 2020, Somon collaborated with the paint brand Dyo to tag a staircase in the Türkali neighborhood of Beşiktaş. One standout piece features a man in a red “Balotelli 45” t-shirt, his tattooed arms crossed and cuffed, his middle fingers raised defiantly. Strangely, he is placed inside an American police station, as indicated by the lines and nuanced details in the painting. This piece exudes the rebellious, “fuck you” attitude that permeates the exhibition. However, while the energy is undeniable, the work doesn’t entirely align with the exhibition’s theme of “ancient shadows stealthily wandering beneath the surface of the everyday world.”
The exhibition text references footballers and their jersey numbers, describing them as “imbued with a ritualistic power reminiscent of numerology.” Yet, this explanation feels vague and disconnected from the artwork itself, leaving the viewer uncertain about its intended meaning. More context in the text could have clarified the artist’s choice of symbols, making the connection clearer.
Beyond the ground-floor installation, the exhibition continues in a wooden attic, accessible via a spiral staircase. Here, one painting features a hooded man wearing a ski mask and holding a gun, positioned next to another showing a hand gripping a golden, shining heart crowned with a pin wrapped in black and gold thread. This juxtaposition evokes a sense of an unexplored subconscious psyche, though it doesn’t fully complement the raw energy of the basement work.
In sum, Blood Semt Magik doesn’t delve into the “dullness of the routine of life,” but it does showcase provocative
Issue 67, December 2024
Beauty in the Wilderness
