JULIAN MAYOR, REFLECTIONS: PILEVNELI | YALIKAVAK

Today, as technology and craft, art and design, intertwine and transform together, artists are freer than ever to express their ideas and diversify their techniques. British artist and designer Julian Mayor is one of them, and he continues to work with both digital and analog as well as different materials and techniques. "I’m interested in how light and shade allow a form to be read, making work that is interesting from all angles, and creating surfaces that act as a foil to differing daylight conditions and throughout the seasons," says Mayor, who has made a name for himself both in international exhibitions and in the design world by experimenting with the materials that excite him while moving along that flexible line between art and design.

 

Mayor is mostly known for his design objects that can be described as aesthetically deformed and even resembling origami, made primarily from industrial materials such as stainless steel and mirrored glass. These design objects include tables, chairs, shelves, coffee tables, etc. His work explores the connections and contrasts between nature, technology, and craftsmanship, forming the basis for such a visual and technical harmony. Colors, lines, and reflections are the source of inspiration for the artist, who wants to involve the viewer in a visual dialogue that will interact with his environment through a monumental yet accessible art production.

 

Julian Mayor's sculptural works made of welded sheet metal utilize high-tech design processes. Each piece is created digitally and then constructed by hand in the artist's studio. Once the overall feel of a computer-generated piece is tangible, a quick cardboard model is first made to achieve a more tactile feel of the surfaces, and then a scale model is produced. These works often have complex geometries, in the artist's signature style, and this metal scale model allows Mayor to develop the fit of the individual pieces and experiment with how different materials and surface treatments affect the look and feel. As a piece approaches its final form, precise metal cutting is done using lasers, and then it is meticulously folded and attached together in the studio, resembling three-dimensional origami. At this stage, the structures have rigid geometric surfaces, but then comes the final step where all the pieces are manually welded together. The welding process softens and distorts the metal surfaces, creating pools of light on the surfaces, creating an effect like the reflection of the moon on water. The seams of the welds are left unfinished, allowing the viewer to witness the craft of welding directly. Inspired by the infinite possibilities of using technology as well as the simplicity and individuality of handmade objects, the artist says: “I like my work to have a high-tech feeling, but also an element of craft. The story of its making is written into each piece if you look closely.” Mayor believes that technologies such as computers and laser cutting help to shape his work, and he works to let them guide him as he guides materials and techniques, allowing the constraints and limits they impose to be incorporated into the forms he develops. Wood, fiberglass or metal; the challenges of each material are different, but Mayor enjoys working with them all. Recently, he has been working more and more with stainless steel with a coloured mirror polish, which he attributes to the instant excitement and curiosity it brings.

 

The artist's various furniture and decorative objects have a dazzling effect, aesthetically attracting the viewer with their reflective surfaces. Despite their weight, these pieces delicately contrast with a sense of mass, exuding a more transparent, lightweight appearance. Reflective pieces, on the other hand, metamorphose throughout the seasons, especially when they are outdoors, their colours and reflections change, they play with the light throughout the day adding a new dimension to the environment and space they are integrated into. Mayor says, "I always try to maintain the theme of visual dynamism and computer generation on the one hand, and lightness and craft on the other." He successfully emphasizes these contrasting forms of expression in his works on the visual plane. The perception of the manufactured pieces in different spaces, from different distances and scales, creates an important visual dynamism for the viewer; from a distance, the geometric feel of the computer-planned planes is more apparent, giving the impression that each is made of pixels, while closer up, the details become visible, recalling the paint, the brushstrokes and the source lines of all the parts that come together to form the whole, the actual craft that went into the making of the piece. This combination and tension are the most significant characteristics of the artist's work, and the transition area between the rational, computer-guided aspect and the artistic, free movement of the hand is where each object finds its place. Combining scientific methods with the flexible nature of craft and art, the artist often uses human figures in the drawing of his furniture, so that changes in size and proportion can be thought of in relation to the body, or playing with sight lines can be effective in telling a visual story as a viewer walks around the design object or sculptural piece. Furthermore, in works such as the Lunar low table or the Parallax table and chairs, the artist combines masculine and feminine aesthetics, allowing the sharp vectorial angles of the structures to contrast with the fluidity of the reflective metallic surfaces.