Şakir Gökçebağ has come up with a refreshingly original version of minimalism in his art. His works consist of simple items of everyday use – all mass produced and preferably from hardware centres, clothes shops or general household stores. Taking simple everyday objects like coat hangers, umbrellas, or toilet rolls, he arranges them in subtle compositions that operate at the interface of abstraction and figuration.

By these means he arrives at works marked by striking visual effects where movement may be simulated, or filigree structures emerge with a noticeably calligraphic character. Gökçebağ almost always strives to create a systematic order, for which he is particularly fond of employing repetitive patterns. Consequently, many of his works have a distinctly ornamental quality, which at times evokes the abstract imagery of the Orient and thus references a cultural sphere that the Turkish-born artist is very familiar with.

Despite their precise execution and the structural rigour of their construction, Gökçebağ's works are certainly not deadly serious. Indeed, the twenty or so works in the exhibition are proof that his art has always a dash of humour, which comes from his resourceful metamorphosis of the quotidian.