Canan Tolon: Sidesteps at Parasol Unit

Sidesteps by Turkish-born artist Canan Tolon marks her first major show in London, boasting a glossy, glittering array of work spanning nearly three decades. The show is truly monumental in both scale and depth, giving a fascinating insight into Tolon’s development as an artist over the years. In spite of this there is a reassuring coherence among the pieces – the exhibition flows elegantly along, which is credit to the curation.

Futur imparfait, a collection of 33 figurative drawings in ink-wash and crayon stand out from the rest of the exhibition in terms of both form and content; they are much smaller than the other works and more obviously representational. Taken together as a conflux,  a single piece made up of smaller details they work, but as individual pieces they are among the weakest in the exhibition.

The rest of the ground floor of the show is made up of grand, glossy works that resemble photographic compositions, yet no screen printing techniques are employed. Tolon’s architectural background clearly has an influence on her work, with pieces such as Glitch II having a haunting familiarity about it, resembling the archways of a grand railway station or famous bridge. But it flatters to deceive, on closer inspection it is naught but an imagined spectre.

Many of the pieces employ this technique, seeming to play tricks on the eye both in terms of the process they employ and their form. The first floor of the show sees the artist sidestep the architectural musings for great canvasses that resemble cellular forms under a microscope exploded to an impressive scale and infused with a slightly off-kilter palette.

There are a few real gems, like the immersive Time After Time, which is not just a single piece but an entire three-walled room that mesmerically engulfs your line of sight from every angle. It appears to repeat ad infinitum but on closer inspection there are subtle differences and intricacies making a light play on the otherwise heavy concepts of time and space.

Sidesteps showcases an impressive body of work from a clearly very accomplished artist – despite the technical precision, it still has enough surprises to keep you guessing.  

Joe Turnbull

Canan Tolo: Sidesteps is at Parasol Unit until 16^th March 2014. For further information visit the gallery’s website here.