Nightmare of the Shepherd Who Fell Asleep – 2

Using various materials, especially glass, iron, aluminium, steel, wood, and stone in his abstract sculptures consisting of geometric and archetypal shapes, Osman Dinç’s works highlight the geological formation processes of these materials, as well as their historical and cultural backgrounds. The techniques used in the transformation of materials into tools and objects in the Iron Age occupy an important place in the artist’s practice. References to Arte Povera’s ways of handling organic or inorganic natural materials and Minimalism’s suggestions for translating concepts, objects and spaces into basic geometric shapes are also included in the works produced by the artist based on his personal narrative, his close relationship with nature, and the question of time on a universal scale.

Osman Dinç, who worked as a shepherd during his childhood in Denizli and lived a life closely connected to nature, often addresses his own experiences and imagery related to rural life, agriculture, and processes in nature, together with autobiographical references. In his work "Nightmare of the Shepherd Who Fell Asleep – 2", the artist places a piece of carved onyx marble on a sheepskin he laid on the floor, like a gravestone. In the first version of the work, Dinç used a sheepskin belonging to his grandmother, which had served as a prayer rug. Creating a defined space where it is placed, "Nightmare of the Shepherd Who Fell Asleep – 2" presents a surface on which different times stratify, on which life and death, human and animal, dream and reality, physical and spiritual intersect. As its title suggests, the work not only reminds us that falling asleep is the ultimate nightmare of a shepherd, but also signals a disaster that may occur in a moment of weakness or absence of mind.