Volume 14, Number 10
November 27, 2007





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From the Gallery of My Mind

alev degimAn Opening.

This week, I want to talk about an exhibition opening that I had the opportunity to attend at the Modern Art Center (Çağdaş Sanatlar Merkezi) in Ankara: "HU(WO)MANITY."
The artist, Sevestet Alispahi, is a student of the famed Eyüp Rahmi Eyüpoğlu. Prior to the opening, Ms. Alispahi discussed with me about how her paintings were statements on violence towards women, and the challenges woman face in general within society. Hands and faces tend to be the main focal. She tended to use only red in her depictions of violence at the beginning. After some time, however, she began to incorporate other colors as well: blues, greens and purples. Eyüpoğlu taught her that color was the most important tools of a painter, followed by form.

Upon entering the exhibition hall, I was greeted by an enormous painting - distorted crimson faces, screaming silently, trapped within the bounds of their canvassed chaosworld. The smoky bodies evoked a sense of horror and violent death. The picture can be broken into two distinct parts - the first is a color and content dense section that acts as an anchor and portrays a sense of death, while the upper area that utilizes more white space acts to illustrate concepts of pain. Even though the painting is called "Caos," there is a defined curvy path that works its way across her creation.

Alisphahi incorporates a variety of mediums, including acrylic and oil paints, plaster of paris and white glue. By combining these materials, she has been able to create interesting patterns and textures that prove to be extraordinarily dynamic. This lends a sense of "realness," as if the manipulated figures are actually trying to burst out of the picture. You can see it, and if you touch the surface, you can almost feel it.

The content of her work, her unique approach, and the ideologies of Ms. Sevestet Alispahi, made this an interesting experience for me. Her art can be seen or online at http://www.sevestet.com/index.html

I fare you well for now…


Alev Değim (COMD/III)
contactinspector@yahoo.com








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