By Heidi Trautmann

On June 17 – in Germany it is a national holiday in Germany in remembrance of the People’s Uprising in East Germany in 1953 – and it is in remembrance of his beloved wife Tijen that Şenol Özdevrim opened his exhibition 2014 with paintings and sculptures,  the wife and supporter of his work  I have also met in 2007 at their apartment in Kyrenia.

Şenol held the opening speech himself and the guests were listening respectfully and I could see that everybody was touched by his words. At the end he said that our life time is so short, one should not forget to love your next and invited them to hug the person next to one; and so I got a bıg hug by Ipek Denizli Karagöz, the artist, one of the few artists that had come to pay their respect to Şenol.

Şenol has his fans as I can always observe, that are his students, and it is touching to see them embracing their teacher and looking up to him. He is a good art teacher with an enormous fundus of imagination; once I visited him in his class room at the GAU College, (you may read the text on my website by entering my name and art at GAU College) and was witness to his teaching activities.

He is a student of Ali Atakan and Şınası Tekman, two very fine artists, both had a defining influence on him with respect to strength of expression and workmanship. Senol is an extremely accurate painter and uses many media, from pencil and ink to oil and mixed techniques. His colours are very clear and patiently he puts one layer on top of each other so the underlying one shines through. He thus creates depth. His paintings are never muddy, they are sparking like precious stones in its clarity. In some pictures you get the feeling of travelling through a human body, full of organs and floating cells. In my book ‘Art and Creativity in North Cyprus’ which is in English and Turkish, I explain his way of painting in details.

Also his sculptures from clay are clear in expression and full of philosophical thoughts, thoughts about humanity and society,  balance and beauty and destruction.

For more photos see my website.

The exhibition is still on until June 27 at the Atatürk Cultural Centre. Viewing times are at official governmental office hours.