Stone Flowers of Our Life, pictures from prison
Stone Flowers of Our Life, pictures from prison
The aesthetic and artistic value of the works in the ‘The Stone Flowers of Our Life, Prison Pictures’ exhibition, which is constituted of the pictures by people living between four walls under circumstances harsh even for living, could make even the outside world jealous.
The painting exhibition, which is held by Delidalgalar Initiative in SMMMO exhibition hall in Kurtuluþ, gives place to works coming from all quarters of Turkey and draws intense interest from art-lovers. The paintings, which were made with new styles and expressed by a number of movements of the painting art, catch the attention.
180 works of nearly 60 prisoners from 10 separate prisons appear in the exhibition, whose artistic value gives an important message to outside in the respect of the discussions in recent years about artistic infertility. The amazing success of the works is a white hope for Turkey in sense of picture art.
LIFE STORIES IN THE EXHIBITION
The exhibition, which reflects the meaningless of ‘blind walls’ and the universality of art, includes a number of stories and different themes. For example, the painting of Erdal Aslan from Kocaeli F Type Prison Numb 2 has an interesting anecdote, which is; a friend of Aslan takes a photo of the nostalgia tramcar on Ýstiklal Street and sends it to him as a postcard. And Aslan paints this photo on canvas with oil paint. And when Aslan’s painting is sent to the exhibition, it is realized and bought by Aslan’s friend, who took that photo and it sent to him.
BRIDGE BETWEEN EXHIBITION VISITORS AND INSIDE
Another remarkable side of the exhibition is the possibility of the painter prisoners to send letters to visitors. Letters from prisons are decorated with ribbons and presented to art-lovers visiting the exhibition. So, all visitors can write back to the letter they got.
The works, which mainly treat the nature, form the theme of the exhibition as ‘longing for outside’ with dynamism of the colors and the portrayal of nature on works. The works can be bought at affordable prices as they were created under ‘dependent’ circumstances due to the prohibition in buying drawing materials and colors.
A SIGNIFICANT STEP IN SURREALISM
Among the paintings with different styles and colors, especially the works of some prisoners are attention grabbing. For example, besides the deep meaning labyrinths and the artistic value, the works of a prisoner called Belengaz have the qualification to be mentioned in significant discussions. Again, the nature-themed painting of M.Þirin Gümüþ and the suicide theme in the painting shelters an extremely striking psychological state.
The light and line skills of Kutsi Çaðýþ from Adýyaman E Type Prison don’t call for verbal expression. Together with the Þahmaran works of Mustafa Brother, the physical and spiritual chaos-themed works of Menaf Osman and nature-themed works of Ali Karayaslý and Ýlyas Doðan; Davut Akgül, A. Rezzak Gülmez, Aydýn Geweri, Edip Yalçýnkaya, M. Ali Besun, Mahmut Ulusan, Murat Ekin, Refik Sünkür, Sait Gürkan and Turan Uysal and many prisoners seem to make an indelible impression for some time with the dissimilar and unexpected aesthetics of the works.
The exhibition by Delidalgalar, who gathered paintings from different parts of the country, will remain open till 3 October for art-lovers in Ýstanbul.
The biggest problem of Delidalgalar, who are planning to hold the next exhibition in Kadýköy, is to find a hall and sponsor.
Translation: Berna Ozgencil
The painting exhibition, which is held by Delidalgalar Initiative in SMMMO exhibition hall in Kurtuluþ, gives place to works coming from all quarters of Turkey and draws intense interest from art-lovers. The paintings, which were made with new styles and expressed by a number of movements of the painting art, catch the attention.
180 works of nearly 60 prisoners from 10 separate prisons appear in the exhibition, whose artistic value gives an important message to outside in the respect of the discussions in recent years about artistic infertility. The amazing success of the works is a white hope for Turkey in sense of picture art.
LIFE STORIES IN THE EXHIBITION
The exhibition, which reflects the meaningless of ‘blind walls’ and the universality of art, includes a number of stories and different themes. For example, the painting of Erdal Aslan from Kocaeli F Type Prison Numb 2 has an interesting anecdote, which is; a friend of Aslan takes a photo of the nostalgia tramcar on Ýstiklal Street and sends it to him as a postcard. And Aslan paints this photo on canvas with oil paint. And when Aslan’s painting is sent to the exhibition, it is realized and bought by Aslan’s friend, who took that photo and it sent to him.
BRIDGE BETWEEN EXHIBITION VISITORS AND INSIDE
Another remarkable side of the exhibition is the possibility of the painter prisoners to send letters to visitors. Letters from prisons are decorated with ribbons and presented to art-lovers visiting the exhibition. So, all visitors can write back to the letter they got.
The works, which mainly treat the nature, form the theme of the exhibition as ‘longing for outside’ with dynamism of the colors and the portrayal of nature on works. The works can be bought at affordable prices as they were created under ‘dependent’ circumstances due to the prohibition in buying drawing materials and colors.
A SIGNIFICANT STEP IN SURREALISM
Among the paintings with different styles and colors, especially the works of some prisoners are attention grabbing. For example, besides the deep meaning labyrinths and the artistic value, the works of a prisoner called Belengaz have the qualification to be mentioned in significant discussions. Again, the nature-themed painting of M.Þirin Gümüþ and the suicide theme in the painting shelters an extremely striking psychological state.
The light and line skills of Kutsi Çaðýþ from Adýyaman E Type Prison don’t call for verbal expression. Together with the Þahmaran works of Mustafa Brother, the physical and spiritual chaos-themed works of Menaf Osman and nature-themed works of Ali Karayaslý and Ýlyas Doðan; Davut Akgül, A. Rezzak Gülmez, Aydýn Geweri, Edip Yalçýnkaya, M. Ali Besun, Mahmut Ulusan, Murat Ekin, Refik Sünkür, Sait Gürkan and Turan Uysal and many prisoners seem to make an indelible impression for some time with the dissimilar and unexpected aesthetics of the works.
The exhibition by Delidalgalar, who gathered paintings from different parts of the country, will remain open till 3 October for art-lovers in Ýstanbul.
The biggest problem of Delidalgalar, who are planning to hold the next exhibition in Kadýköy, is to find a hall and sponsor.
Translation: Berna Ozgencil
