Irfan Önürmen explores the impact of contemporary imagery on the human psyche. Through collage, painting and sculpture, Önürmen creates portraits that emerge from archives of images that he collects from newspapers, magazines, and social media. Developing his signature technique that he calls ‘pentulle’ since the late 1990s, Önürmen’s technical portraits reveal closely-cropped portraits through built-up layers of cut tulle and clear plastic.

Irfan Önürmen’s Gaze Series gives way to psychological and political readings as he depicts familiarlooking yet anonymous faces that are composites of images found on the internet. Examining the disparity between real identities and their online, virtual avatars, th...