2025
Printing on Hahnemühle Matt Fibre, mounted on alucobond
200 x 86 cm
Garden and Pool depicts a flattened terrain submerged under a shallow layer of water. Rocks, plants, square and round containers, and lighting fixtures are scattered across the surface. A concrete wall runs horizontally across the image, interrupting the visual field without enclosing it. The water reflects gently, muting boundaries while allowing objects to remain clearly outlined.
The work stages a space shaped by accumulation, overflow, and drift. Vegetation appears in loose clusters, untended and uneven. Containers float or rest partially submerged. Their forms suggest storage and control, yet their placement indicates dispersal. The wall operates similarly. It marks a threshold but fails to define what remains inside or outside. It segments without securing.
The visual language moves between digital imaging and traditions of East Asian painting and garden manuals. The composition relies on adjacency and interval. Water functions not as background or symbol but as a space condition that makes spatial relationships both visible and unstable.
As in earlier works such as Garden (2023) and Ghost Gardens (2023), Kerem Ozan Bayraktar examines hybrid spaces in formation. These are not fixed zones of function but marginal terrains shaped by interruption and reassembly. Garden and Pool continues this inquiry by assembling elements of landscape and infrastructure in a shared surface. It observes how spatial categories shift when maintenance falters and boundaries dissolve.