Centre Gallery is pleased to present Art – de Facto Opposition, a solo exhibition by Serhat Tanyolaçar. The exhibition is on view from October 16 – 27, 2017.

Like the mythological figure of Atlas, Serhat Tanyolaçar bears the weight of pervasive moral and political corruption on his shoulders. Turkish by birth and culture and U.S. resident since 2002, Tanyolaçar learned early that the ambiguous symbols of institutions often cloak a rigid adherence to authority that is at odds with personal liberty. His work skewers that authority with absurdity, satire, humour, and anguished meanings.

Tanyolaçar believes that it is artists’ obligation to be socially and politically responsible active human beings. He takes the role of the oppositional figure against the established government and societal systems.  This, in a way, transforms him into a socio-political commentator and a storyteller.

Tanyolaçar’s exhibition at the Centre Gallery of the University of South Florida presents his latest prints and his kaftan attire from his last public performance in Istanbul and Ankara. Worthy of close looking for both their imagery and content, his prints linger in the mind as intriguing and peculiar, compelling and exasperating.

As a manifesto of individual artistic freedom against authoritarian rules, Tanyolacar’s work pushes the question, “what can we accept?” Like a modern-day Goya, his prints may not make sense at the first glance, but they stop us in our tracks, pull us in, deny us complacency, and demand that we attend to the folly all around.

The Gallery will be open Monday – Friday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. DessArt will be served on Monday, October 16, 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. The Closing reception will be held on October 27, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.