Art Exhibition at the Eaved House in Nicosia

By Heidi Trautmann

Stencil Art was first used in street art, graffiti, to carry art works into the streets for everybody to see, engraving a message into one’s mind; not only art by the way – all sorts of warnings on the asphalt, on walls, are made from stencils. It became fashionable in the 1960s in America. Stencils are cut out of paper, cardboard, plastic sheets, even metal and sprayed, painted, stubbed or rolled on any surface. It is a process which makes the re-production of an image, text, or both combined, easy. You can also have multi-layered stencil works, by producing a stencil for each separate colour.  This form of art belongs into the Graphic Design section of art, sort of visual communication.

I was very much looking forward to visit the exhibition by Erdoğan Ergün at the Eaved House which opened on the evening of 9 April with many art people from universities and theirs students present. Erdoğan Ergün is Assistant Prof at the Graphic and Design Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design of the Near East University since 2006. I find it very positive that artists come out individually away from university surroundings and approach the general public.

However, before I lead you around to learn about Erdoğan and his art, I would like to mention how much I was surprised to hear proper Jazz played on the occasion, two musicians, one of them is Serdar Tuksal, a fine saxophone player; he was sitting in the ante room with his friend who played the guitar to entertain the guests at the vernissage. Wonderful jazz, I heard him play the saxophone for the first time, I wished I would more often.

Prof. Dr. Şenol Bektaş and Prof. Dr. Uğurcan Akyüz opened the exhibition with humorous words and they were obviously quite proud of their colleague’s first exhibition in the field of illustration and graphic art work because they acquired some pieces for themselves. Hikmet Uluçam, an artist friend, discussed with me the time consuming steps of this technique as he had watched Erdoğan Ergün work on the one or other piece, for weeks some times. Especially the portrait with the bearded man, all the small stubbles cut out with patience and utmost care.

Artists in one form or the other today often use techniques that are similar to this kind of reproducing, multi layered lino cuts for example, is in its basic understanding the same, plates for each colour are being cut but while the lino plate is led through a press, the stencils are sprayed or painted on.

Stencils can be applied on any flat material and are interchangeable to produce new images. An interesting tool in today’s understanding of art. Art commences in the head, and there are no limits.

By the way, I like the signature stamp Erdoğan Ergün has produced from a stencil….

The exhibition will be open until 16 April daily except Sundays at official governmental office hours.