HUMAN IN THE OBJECT OR AESTHETICS OF OBJECT

IN NURAY GÜMÜŞTEKİN’S WATER-COLOUR PICTURES

Mustafa Durak
Translated by Sunay Tunca

A Picture expresses a meaning to the person interested. An unknown

object/thing or an unknown person is a gap or an idleness for us as a memory
or time, even not being an existence. Things reach our perception with our own
perception. They are formed,changed and transformed in our minds. World of
existence comes into value with our viewpoints and exists as other beings. Our
viewpoint makes us and our universe narrower or more wide. While every
picture represents artist’s world, every picture also needs percievers’ world.
The more creativeness percievers need on a picture, the more viewpoints of
percievers a picture needs. Art lives or exists with understandings or
interpretations. If we express this with the fact in plays watched by spectators;
art lives with claps and claps. But claps are nothing on their own. They turn
over into absurdity. As a result, claps exist with their reasons. They are
meaningful when they are seen with their reasons. Besides, art is art with its
percievers. They are like the soil which grows or feeds. And art functions also
in the same manner for perceivers. Value which genius set on art is another
indication of this relation. However, every artistical work may not receive
interest that worths. Somewhat, this is also related to being in the right place at
the right time. And certainly, even though we are responsible for our
behaviours and the things we have done, it is necessary to take into
consideration of the other factors beyond our control and out of our
responsibilities.

Yes, I have said that a Picture speaks to the person interested. But, there is also
a place and time for this person in interest to talk. Tongue sometimes speaks at
the moment when he comes face to face with the fact. Sometimes for him it
may take years to open the mouth. So the artistical fact is not limited with time.
Art can not be limited with moment or day or time.

I want to enlarge more upon the subject related to Art. Science relies upon
similarities or resemblences. A scientist has to hanker after similarities.
Because he/she sets up or constructs his/her own world through similarities.
His/her purpose is to transfer us the facts or formations in the nature
immediately by conveying its rules, principles to a sample. But, Art tends to
the opposite of this. Art pores details or differences related to the life. It gives
voice to beauty of differences, indispensability of being different, desire of
existing differently, in different ways. So every artistical work (Picture) is a
presentation of difference. It is a presentation of life even though it gives a
presentation of nature mort.
In fact, my words which could be perceived as a general evaluation are the
words which make me talk about the water-colour exhibition of Nuray
Gümüştekin, consisting of her Works realised in 2008-2009. I should not miss
this that Susan Sontag says, ‘Art is out of meaning‘, by conveying the traces of
hostility for meaning in the symbolists. However, I think that all kinds of
figures or forms and technical improvement, practice include the meaning and
defend this opinion even though in this writing I can not touch on these points
as I regard them out of my knowledge limit. Namely, my contention is that
meaning and interpretation which is shade of meaning is everywhere. Wherever
a person goes, he/she can not go without any meaning and/or any
interpretation.

Let me mention about my projections, and impressions on me relating the

water-colour pictures in Nuray Gümüştekin’s exhibition.

An Equitable, Democratic Structuring:

How can such a theme be performed or made in a plastic art? When we

approach the subject from the point of view of the diversification of an item or
one of the items into the Picture, namely, focusing (focalisateur) or highlighting
(mise en relief) operations with social concepts, it can be related with these
concepts: equitable/ unequitable, democratic / anti-democratic. I do not intend
to drift the criticism or review into a political point. I am trying to draw
attention to the fact, which reflects Nuray Gümüştekin’s mind and effects her
pictures, being supposed to be important by me. In her ’Rebirth‘ work, it is
not felt any difference as grandeur among the seashells. She creats a
balanced/stable point of interest into values of colours. So there are values of
colours, to be seen like an attraction point in terms of colour, in her pictures.
But, this leads up us to two different concepts : the point of interest relating to
colour and the visual item being sticked out or focusing on an item. These are
different themes or points in pictures. We can not say that the objects and
persons are emphasized or any colour in her works. Perhaps theme of colour
distribution will lead us to a different meaning, but balance and
harmony/coherence are basic principles which she keeps.
Rebirth, 46x62 cm. 2009 watercolour on the paper

Temporalization:

There exists reference to the old times in all watercolours at the exibition. This
was reflected in the titles of the works: “Old things”, “At the antique shop”,
“The thought”. Through the figures in “The thought”, we get an impression
of not the concept of thinking as in “The thinking man” by Rodin, but of
thinking that is leading us to old times, memories, and thoughtfullness (even a
feeling of having been defeated). “The temporalization” was observed the most
tangibly in “Coins”. The figures and forms on them convey the wish of being
for immortality by antiquating and asssociating the old through the colour
values, and by creating indefinedness. In ‘’Symbols 6’’, Gümüştekin tries a
new organisation of the forms of coins in the tetragonal bounders through a
graphical expression. Are these boundaries the belongingness of the object to a
non - chronological time? In this study, the frames in frames can also be
perceived both as reflections in mirrors as in “Las Meninas” and as
boundedness and boundlessness in boundaries. The things’ resistance against
time and place is another important subjec to be handled here. But this
resistance is not outcrying. It works like a whirlpool aspirating itself gradually.
The depth of vision requires experience of plunging. As a matter of fact, you
notice that Gümüştekin discovered or made you find out one of the points that
the artistic one differentiates from an ordinary visual one. Watching the work
of art becomes spiritual and spiritualizes. This is not anything theological. The
thing I try to mention is the spirituality transcending theology.
 Old Things 3, 46x62 cm. 2009 watercolour on paper

In the antiquary 2, 77x57 cm. 2009 watercolour on paper

 Thought, 50x35cm. 2008 mixt technics on the paper

Coins, 46x62 cm. 2009 mixt technics on the paper

 Symbols 6, 77x57 cm. 2009 watercolour on paper

Spatialization:

The spatialization in Nuray Gümüştekin’s Works: Underwater (“Rebirth”,

“Amphoras”), Outwards (“Chairs”, “Sunday”, “The olds”, “The thought”),
Inwards (“Signs 4”). In some of her works, we can not perceive a kind of
space; where the space is created by the work itself. That is, the work is itself a
kind of space, a spatial conflict, a differentation. That does not necessarily
force us to a certain meaning. For her, space is a kind of decoration of the time.
The reflections to the things or the reflections from the things to us are
important. Her Works make the things aesthetic.
 Amphoras, 70x50 cm. 2008 watercolour on paper

Chairs, 70x50 cm. 2008 watercolour on paper

Bazaar, 35x50 cm. 2008 mixt technics on paper

Symbols 4, 77x57 cm. 2009 mixt technics on paper

The Abundance In The Things (Objects):

When we pay attention to the depicted things, we notice that we had

confronted plurality and abundancy. This abundancy leads us to the
fruitfullness which is the tittle of one of her works. From there, who knows?,
we may jump to Goddess Kybele from whom we could enter her inner world as
a distant association. Another impression of the things we felt is a kind of
tiredness “left after many different experiences”, and being deserted, a kind of
sadness perhaps. A nostalgic view of the universe. Her works accumulate the
sadness of historical and current truelife experience. They wish to send us to
many a truelife experience and being historical at every object. She links every
object, even non- existent in her works, to human beings. She signalizes the
human being living in an object. She creates the human being in the thing. She
tries to create the aesthetics of the thing, the aesthetics of the thing that reflects
human being.

Fertility, 70x50 cm. 2008 mixt technics on paper.

Briefly, I call Nuray Gümüştekin’s works “ut pictura poesis”, that is “These are
pictures (works of art), because they are poetics.