Timothy Taylor

Hayal Pozanti (b. 1983, Istanbul, Turkey) paints lush, swirling organic forms in rich jewel tones, unfolding in scenes evocative of nature and the rising tide of the subconscious. She lives and works in Manchester, VT.

‘Painting is my way of understanding the physicality of the world, becoming one with the world,’ says Pozanti, whose work has undergone a marked shift in the past five years. Organic shapes evoke half-moons, sea foam, animals and falling waves, expressing amoeba-like forms in fantastical abstract landscapes. The flourishing growth of nature in Pozanti’s work is both a metaphor for the human imagination and a vision of life beyond human exceptionalism.

Pozanti received an MFA from Yale University and became known in the early 2010s for her abstract paintings of geometric neon forms inspired by technology, the constant presence of statistics in our lives, and the aesthetics of the internet. During this time period, Pozanti theorised a visual vocabulary of hieroglyphs that allowed her to translate fragments of data on human behaviour into paintings, creating complex snapshots of our reliance on technology.

However, Pozanti’s investigations of artificial intelligence and technology lead her to question how absent the roles of intuition, emotion, and connection to the natural world have become from contemporary lives. With a growing concern for climate-related disaster, Pozanti decided to shift focus in her life and work to consider new worlds inspired by the beauty of the natural landscape in her current home of Vermont. The angular, cipher-like forms in her paintings blossomed into soft organic landscapes reminiscent of science fiction ecologies filled with mysterious biological life forms in amoeba-like shapes, related in colour and form to Jean Arp and Wassily Kandinsky, who likewise hoped to create abstract worlds that held universal truths about reality.

In 2021, Pozanti created ‘Instant Paradise’, an 85-foot-long art installation on the ceiling of the New York Public Library's largest circulating branch. ‘Instant Paradise’ is composed of 95 pieces of fiberboard that were painted and arranged into 12 abstract clusters. Pozanti's forms were inspired by a milestone of written communication throughout human history, from Mesopotamian clay writing tablets; the invention of paper in ancient China; to the world wide web. The installation is on view for all visitors.

Other public commissions include the Public Art Fund, New York, NY and Cleveland Clinic and Case Western, Cleveland. Pozanti's work has been presented in institutional solo shows at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York. Her work is in the permanent collections of Eli & Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, MI; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); San Jose Museum of Art, CA; and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA.