The artist Emma Stern returns with a new chapter or rather, with the advancement of a level within a gaming universe already extensively explored to which a new scheming and an additional interpretive layer are added. Not only in technical and conceptual terms, but also geographically: the artist explores a new territory and inaugurates her presence in Istanbul. The exhibition, open from February 5 to March 1, 2026, is installed in the spaces of Dirimart Gallery and, through a stratification of visual and semantic levels, opens a perspective both onto the hyper-contemporary art scene and onto the social and cultural dynamics that traverse it. Already known for the implementation of technical and commercial software combined with a clear and rigorous fidelity to oil painting, Stern reopens the debate around a central friction of contemporary art. The artist aligns herself with the present moment by proposing the overcoming of the ethical divide between classical art and artificial tools not through their opposition, but through the use of the latter as a key for critical reasoning and the respect of the former as the final destination of the work.

Each piece in fact begins with the design of virtual female bodies, created using 3D software, only to be brought back to oil painting on canvas through a manual and material restitution. Artificial intelligence thus remains subordinate to traditional artistic technique, yet becomes a tool for generating a critical debate on the role and identification of the feminine throughout artistic and commercial history. What is called into question in the unhealthy identification of contemporary female models is nothing other than the result of a programming that draws upon consolidated historical representations. The contemporary female body continues to bear the weight of a deeply rooted objectification and, although articulated through different technologies, remains the product of an ancient and standardised representation.The woman-avatar is configured as an awareness of a historical and chronic commercialisation that requires ethical re-evaluation; the conscious use of classical painting underscores the importance of analysing meaning and responsibility in the communication of the visual message.