Selected works
Plan B, 2022 Plan B, 2022, Mixed media on paper, 70 x 150 cm (tryptich)
Plunder, 2012 Plunder, 2012, Acrylic on canvas, 145 x 290 cm
Obstruction, 2021 Obstruction, 2021, Ink on paper, 70 x 100 cm
Nacht und Nebel, 2024 Nacht und Nebel, 2024, Ink on paper, 100 x 140 cm
Colossus, 2021 Colossus, 2021, Oil on canvas, 97 x 130 cm
Beacon, 2023 Beacon, 2023, Acrylic on canvas, 114 x 142 cm
Treasure, 2021 Treasure, 2021, Oil on canvas, 103 x 103 cm
Error Report, 2022 Error Report, 2022, Mixed media on paper, 70 x 100 cm
Verdict, 2022 Verdict, 2022, Mixed media on paper, 70 x 100 cm
Deserter, 2022 Deserter, 2022, Mixed media on paper, 70 x 100 cm
About

Djochkoun Sami is a contemporary painter currently living and working in the Istanbul, Turkey. Graduate of Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, Faculty of Painting, Istanbul (BFA, MFA), he is regularly exhibiting at various group shows, illustrated magazines, poetry books, theatre posters. His recent solo exhibitions were held at Istanbul Concept Gallery, Turkey and Silistra Art Gallery, Bulgaria.

Sami's paintings often incorporate architectural and historical references, while maintaining an affinity for the templates of formalist painting. His limited color palette supports his drawing-based process, making visible an effort towards achieving pictorial and formal values. His work exists in a space floating between the stylistic borders of expression and figuration. Sami frequently borrows forgotten, abandoned architectural spaces from the recent past, exposing the possibilities for the existence of anonymous, depoliticized homogeneous spaces. In some of his recent works, he strips away historicism and allusions, instead incorporating objects, rocks, organic matter, and voids that accompany a horizontally-based perception of time.

Sami's paintings reveal a cynicism towards politics, a characteristic developed from his upbringing. He employs references and motifs of modernity, progress, regress, and the grand narratives of the past. In some of his paintings, he illustrates how the political is reduced to its grotesque dimension, with power struggles, flag-waving, and the reselling of imaginary dreams. His work engages in a hauntology research of its own, exploring how the agendas of contemporary societies are shaped by ghosts of the past.


   Paintings
   Drawings
   CV & Exhibitions