Heidi Trautmann

511 - MythEROLogy – Evolution of mankind seen with the eyes of Erol Refikoğlu
5/20/2013

 

An exhibition of godly sculptures and the launch of a book

 

By Heidi Trautmann

 

„I who was born in these lands, Erol, son of Refik, ask thee oh mother of my initial mother and father…Who was here long before we were? My initial mother and father who carved the first flint stone, armed himself and hunted the first wild boar, to feed their first born…..”

….thus starts the catalogue in English and Turkish to accompany the exhibition by Erol Refikoğlu, Erol, son of Refik.

On May 17, Erol Refikoğlu opened his exhibition of over 35 sculptures to the public because he has something to say to us apart from what he has been giving us on stage by his art of acting; he tells us about it in this poetic book in English and Turkish, it is a sort of summary of thoughts he shares with us, his thoughts about the world from its very beginning to today and he takes the mythical world of Mediterranean Gods as intermediary to tell his story.

The gods, semi gods and heroes were weak, they had their long lists of misdeeds and were falling prey to temptations;  they stand model for the people in power today. Erol wants to show how these gods and heroes were playing with mortals, throwing them into the hell of wars and misery, making them suffer. Scars remain and scars have remained with Erol, with all of us.

 

Yaşar Ersoy, his friend and colleague, held the opening speech with heartfelt words about Erol,  brother and friend for over 40 years of theatre. “We fought together, produced, created together and shared with the community….Erol, he said, Erol is an actor in this unappreciative, life-crushing country. He is an intuitive actor with a powerful aura but also a labourer with gifted hands, a man of the theatre with many talents….Mythology by Erol=MythEROLogy , his voyage and his story of ‘the tyrants and the underdogs’…Mytherology is the dialectic togetherness of reality and fiction; of what dominating gods of the Greek and Roman mythology had done to mortals and what capitalist-imperial gods of the 21st century had done to humanity, to people….” Strong words, words of friendship and respect.

 

The sculptures are built up with clay in a sort of cosmos, part of the earth, underworld, sea or air, depending on the site of action; walking around them discloses fine details of the individual story, the details of it to be read in the catalogue of the same name. It is a mise-en-scène as one can expect from a theatre man.  The scenes are rough, cruel in its truthful presentation. You recognize the love Erol Refikoğlu has invested in creating these worlds. The first species of men, apelike, crawling and defensive; Aphrodite aged with sagging breasts after having served as the idol of love for so long; Zeus on winged Pegasus about to punish offenders; Hermes, the protector of crooks and thieves, still believed valid today; Heracles, the hero who ‘hinders the hinderer’ of our every interest; Prometheus who dared to steal the fire from the Gods to give us knowledge; war sites such as Troy and many more scenes that Erol believes are still valid today.

 

I do hope that Erol Refikoğlu will show his sculptures in other places such as Kyrenia and Famagusta for more people to learn about MythEROLogy.


Aphrodite
Aphrodite


Troy
Troy


Yaşar Ersoy and Erol Refikoğlu
Yaşar Ersoy and Erol Refikoğlu






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