By Heidi Trautmann
On November 17 the Eaved House saw
many art lovers and friends of Gülseven in its beautiful courtyard assembled
for the opening of her 6th solo exhibition under the title of ‘My Other World’,
a collection of paintings that, she says, was inspired by travelling with her husband Morton,
travelling to beautiful shores and exploring the underwater world snorkeling.
I had prepared a little speech for
my friend Gülseven, and I think there I said it all:
Good evening, Friends of Gülseven and art lovers who have
come to see what may be behind the announced title ‘My Other World’ I feel
honoured to have been asked by Gülseven to say some words of introduction. We have
not only been friends for many years but also been working together as part of
the Thursday Art Group and have gone through many experiences on the art side. I first met her when she worked for her first
exhibition on the beautiful inner life of semi precious stones and also on her
following ones over the last years.
She invited me to her studio to see the paintings she has
been preparing for this exhibition and the first impression entering my mind
after having seen the 54 paintings she was framing herself, was a quote by
Jules Verne, or rather two of his quotes:
The sea
is the vast reservoir of Nature. The globe began with sea, so to speak; and who
knows if it will not end with it?”
The sea
is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is
pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he
feels life stirring on all sides. The sea is only the embodiment of a
supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing but love and emotion.
I was a Jules Verne Fan in my young days as so many
others of you I am sure; he disclosed for us those worlds which have kept us in
awe when we were growing up, especially his book ‘20000 leagues under the sea’
fascinated me.
Gülseven was born in Paphos right next to the sea and its
airs and music got into her blood as she was telling me, the love for the sea
has never left her. Even when she lived in England with her family for 26 years
she always came to the island once a year, to the shores of her childhood, to
show her children this special companion of her young days. Wherever she
travelled it was the sea that fascinated her most.
You can realize in her paintings – done in acrylic, oil
and water colour - that Gülseven did
some research below sea level, discovering the world of light that reigns,
filtered through layers of water, be it on a sunny morning when she was
snorkeling, a cloudy day or close to sunset, the atmosphere under the surface
of the water will change with the day progressing. The underwater world, a
kingdom in itself, honoured and greatly feared since the beginning of our existence,
since the first living cell left the sea to face the world above, the amniotic
fluid we once come from. The sea played an important role in the Ancient Times in
all cultures of the world, people gave them Gods , fairies and creatures and created stories around them and
the sea became a world of wonders and mysteries, feared, loved but respected.
Alas, this is no longer so, says Gülseven, on our coasts
and many others around the world you will find the waste of our modern world
stranded, thrown away by negligent people who are getting it for nothing from a
negligent industry going on to produce indestructible materials. It is a
statement, she says, she wants to make, she wants to show how beautiful and
precious the sea is and that its dwellers need our protection and our respect. The
sea is the lung of our world and if we go on feeding it with plastic it will
start to suffer severely from it, and the fish we eat will pass on the poison
to us and our children, the poison we have delivered in the first place.
Yes, Gülseven, this is a very important message you are
giving us, it is alas left to the artists of all disciplines to admonish
society to take better care of our cultural assets. Perhaps with some insistence
we succeed in reaching open ears of our
politicians to stop the littering with appropriate laws.
Thank you, Gülseven, for reminding us by showing us your
‘Other World’ you have created with your brush.
The exhibition is
open until Saturday, November 27. The exhibition has been prolonged by a week.
There is a permanent
exhibition of her work at her ZEN Gallery and studio at 90 Sht. Celal Hasan
Cad. İn Lapta. Tel. 0548 822 2868 – zenatay50@gmail.com