Sema Gülez selected for you

Merve ÜSTÜNALP - Choir 1

I am always intrigued by all kinds of expressions that focus on people’s faces and daily life. The way Merve Üstünalp explores the differences between the male and female gazes, lives and positions is highly interesting. We are used to see water colour in paintings that usually focus on themes of scenery. So, I really liked when Üstünalp did something different and used water colour for human figures. I already have a weakness for artworks that include fabrics and stitching. It is absolutely natural for humans to concentrate on the things that particularly touches on his/her own life. Also, I got really amazed when I realized that she used these fabrics and stitching technique to tell the relationship between teacher and student. I am really moved by the selection of colours for the school uniform and the teacher’s hands, children’s heads, the body language and what these children wish to express. It isn’t possible to picture these lives better than Üstünalp; these lives that are spent cheek by jowl, sincerity and insincerity, jealousy; family bonds, sharing or judging, curiosity or indifference… She succesfully captures the essence in the expressions.

Seçkin UYSAL - Untitled

Seçkin Uysal’s blurred and red photograph which creates the image of a train station, reminds us of the ephemerality of life and it sparkles feelings of travelling, departure and farewell. Places like gas stations, train stations, ports, airports, hotel rooms and indoors thrill me. Like Edward Hopper… The sceneries of daily life and travelling engulf me.

Zeynep AKAN - Rüzgaraltı

Similar to Merve Üstünalp, Zeynep Akan is also focusing on human faces and different spaces. I feel well when I examine her work and the lines she uses in them. In her last work “Rüzgaraltı”, she has expressed the small housing spaces and the impressions they give to the outer world so freeheartedly. She uses colours really well.

Ani Çelik Arevyan - Bu Dünyaya ait İzler

Ani Çelik Arevyan has explained to me this photograph and the senses dynamism and the transformation it invokes; perhaps the cycle itself… He has taken advantage of digital technologies. He remained faithful to the statement: “photography does not reflect the truth”. The name “Traces of This World” is again an emphasis on the ephemerality of human life. It provokes me to think that we are so busy with the rush of living that we vanish off the face of the earth as if we are drawn into a vortex.

Nazif Topçuoğlu - Death of Cleopatra

The composition which Nazif Topcuoglu has created reminded me of the Renaissance paintings; it is a professional and theatrical interpretation. While he was creating this Renaissance effect with various colours, costumes and decors; he also forms a synthesis between past and present by using modern garments. I have established a strong bond with these types of works.