Cos Ahmet

COS AHMET

Statement

I recently approached the notion of reinforcing woven tapestry into my current work as a further vehicle for image making to carry a new narrative thread in my ongoing exploration of 'sexuality and identity' through the male form. Much of my work embraces the etching process. Not satisfied with using paper to capture my print ideas, I started to create a new body of work involving the combination of weaving and printmaking, using the woven tapestry base as my new surface to transfer the image. I am interested in the borderline between the 'woven', 'printed' or 'drawn' line, and achieving a seamless connection where they work in unison.

'Linked' & 'Creation' series’ of works, demonstrates the beginning of this merger. The lines and marks made by the etched image work well against the subtle textures of yarn, flooding the surface with rich inky lines and shapes, emphasizing to the woven shapes and lines, distorting the surface or exposing the warp through the weft. I have since taken the idea further, reversing the process and layering tapestry over etchings.

I am working on building a new body of work that will become a large 'physical collage' of media, entangling and embedding into the textile surface, exploiting the way in which marks and textural surface images are formed to create a unique 'face'.

Education
2004 – 2006 Printmaking for Artists, Kensington & Chelsea College
1997 – 1999 HNC Public Art Project Management, Barnet College
1993 – 1996 BA Honours Constructed Textiles, Middlesex University
1992 – 1993 Diploma Foundation in Art & Design, Barnet College

One Man Exhibitions
2010 'Bodylogues' Lauderdale House, London (Awarded Solo Exhibition)
2008 'my shadow sits and waits for me' Waterloo Gallery, London
2007 'Life Force' First One Man Exhibition, Waterloo Gallery, London

Recent Group Exhibitions
2011
The International Postcard Show 2011, Surface Gallery, Nottingham
Harlesden Gallery Group Exhibition, Tricycle Gallery, London
Drawing With Thread, Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford

2010
100sqft 5 London, Chomeley Boys Club, London
6by4 Secret Postcard Exhibition, Gallery Art Space Portsmouth
Guerilla Gallery, NEON Arts Festival, Dundee, Scotland
100sqft 5 New Orleans, Art Egg Studios, New Orleans, US
Out of Print? Curated by the Printmakers Council, South Hill Park Arts, Berkshire
Holding Time, The Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan Institute, London

2009
'Pride in The House' Lauderdale House, London
'DRENCH/ABSORB', Oblong Gallery, London
'Weaving Within', Stirling Castle & Smith Art Gallery & Museum, Stirling, Scotland

Awards/Residencies

2011 Appointed Artist-in-Residence at Middlesex University, London
2009 Award of Solo Exhibition, as Winner of Pride in The House 2009, Lauderdale House
2006 The Kensington & Chelsea Printmakers Prize

Works in Collections
Artbeat Public Art Collection- Bedfordshire, UK
The British Display Society, Harwood Bauhofer Apex, Somerset, UK
Private Collections in the UK, US, Greece, & The Netherlands

Professional Membership
The Artists Information Company
The British Tapestry Group
The Printmakers Council

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Cos Ahmet