The Artist Using Neon Geometry as a Means of Escapism

The sun is shining on Turkish artist Bahar Yürükoğlu’s long ice-white nails (“they’re real”) and day-glo pink lipstick as she sits in a café terrace on Istiklal Caddesi, the busiest street in Istanbul. On the other side of the street, a man is selling bubble blowers. A few doors down, an installation of flying lozenges, plexiglass parallelograms and other neon shapes distracts passers-by.

Titled Plexiberg, the installation stands at the entrance of Bahar’s…