SOMA, 2026

Oil painting on canvas

“SOMA” (Psychosomatics) explores how emotional tension manifests in the body through psychosomatic processes. This influence is expressed through distorted, spatially stretched figures that gradually lose their sense of wholeness and connection to the surrounding world. A state of paralysis dominates the paintings, reflecting one of the body’s most common responses to overwhelming emotional experiences. Deep ultramarine and its tonal variations visualize emotional pressure and the intensity of inner states, while the circular format reinforces a sense of enclosure, concentration, and inward focus. The conceptual framework of the series is inseparable from its material process. Each work is built through a slow and meticulous practice of layering, becoming a physical record of time, repetition, and emotional accumulation. The paintings are created exclusively with pure ultramarine oil paint and dry ultramarine pigment. By combining different oil mediums, I developed surfaces that balance transparency, luminosity, and depth, allowing light to penetrate the successive layers and subtly transform the viewer’s perception. Every stretcher was constructed entirely by hand. I cut each circular support from wooden panels, carefully sanded the edges, and stretched the canvas myself. From the construction of the support to the final layer of paint, every stage of the process was completed by me. Each painting consists of approximately twenty carefully applied layers of ultramarine, created through a process of glazing and layering. Under carefully considered lighting, these accumulated layers become visible, revealing the material depth of the paintings. The physical structure of the works thus mirrors their conceptual concerns: the gradual accumulation of invisible emotional experiences that eventually become embodied in the human form.