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The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Merve Morkoç’s Disturbing Paintings Turn Beauty Into Gore

Turkish artist Merve Morkoç aka Lakormis mocks our predilection for beauty with portraits that toy with our instincts and desires. Thin, young, model-like characters with the types of faces and bodies that line the pages of fashion magazines are her primary subjects. But Morkoç alters the women's appearances with disturbing, fantasy disfigurations that make them the stuff of nightmares. Initial attraction quickly becomes repulsion. Morkoç waves the illusion of beauty before the viewer's face and rips it away like a veil, revealing the strange, Frankenstein-esque details she has added to her characters.

Turkish artist Merve Morkoç aka Lakormis mocks our predilection for beauty with portraits that toy with our instincts and desires. Thin, young, model-like characters with the types of faces and bodies that line the pages of fashion magazines are her primary subjects. But Morkoç alters the women’s appearances with disturbing, fantasy disfigurations that make them the stuff of nightmares. Initial attraction quickly becomes repulsion. Morkoç waves the illusion of beauty before the viewer’s face and rips it away like a veil, revealing the strange, Frankenstein-esque details she has added to her characters.

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