Collection: Daniel Horoz

Daniel Horoz (b. 1999, İskenderun) graduated from the Textile and Fashion Design Department of Mersin University Faculty of Fine 
Arts. 

 He uses embroidery as a painterly medium to explore concepts of portraiture, memory, and gaze. References to classical painting, anonymous faces, and images carrying personal associations occupy a significant place in his practice. Rather than reproducing an image exactly as it 
appears, the artist reconstructs it by fragmenting, zooming in, or focusing on specific parts of the face. Through this approach, the figures are removed from a fixed sense of time and relocated into an ambiguous and psychological space.
 
In some of his works, Horoz deliberately disrupts the integrity of realistic portrait surfaces by adding 
spontaneous embroidered interventions reminiscent of children’s drawings. These interventions create a tension 
oscillating between playfulness, innocence, and vandalism, while transforming the classical and solemn language 
of portraiture into something more personal and fragile. Childlike figures and gestures resembling scribbles 
evoke associations with memory, repressed emotions, and the unstable nature of identity

The image of the eye emerges as a recurring central element throughout Horoz’s works. The gaze becomes a focal point associated with witnessing, silence, vulnerability, and introspection. Facial fragments placed within small-scale frames create an intimate experience that physically draws the viewer closer to the work.