Gallery News from Istanbul

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Gallery News from Istanbul

* 'Flying Carpets'
* Ali Demir and his villagers
* Graphic-Caricature pictures by Gurbuz Dogan Eksioglu
* Landscape paintings, photographs and videos
* 'Poet Father'
* Impressions of Tuscany
* 'Terra di Riviera' (1984-1997)
* A special event at Tolga Eti Art Gallery
* European-Turkish synthesis

'Flying Carpets'

Carpets created by ten artists living in France, along with the Tulu
carpets collection (from the Konya-Karapinar region) of Dr. Ayan
Gulgonen, will be presented by the French Cultural Institute at the
Dolmabahce Cultural Center, March 17-April 4.

Artists of East Mediterranean origin -- Lebanese, Algerian, French,
Egyptian, Moroccan and Turkish -- are displaying their modern-style
carpets.

"Tulu carpets" are found only in the Karapinar district of Konya. The
nomads there make them for functional purposes rather than commercial:
every single girl must weave four or five Tulu carpets, as well as
several traditional ones, for her dowry. The traditional carpet has
commercial value and can be sold if necessary.

It is interesting to note that Konya-Karapinar carpets are decorated
with traditional motifs, whereas the Tulu style are extremely plain.
The motifs are classified as "mihrapli," "stamped," "squared,"
"straight," "belly," "spotted," "designed" and "with mosque," and
consist of highly stylized figures. These antique designs can resemble
modern art, clean and esthetic.

Tulu carpets have only recently begun to appear on the market, as the
nomads produce them for their own use. Dr. Ayan Gulgonen discovered
the Tulu style in 1970; she will speak on their resemblance to the
Luri Gabbeh carpets in Southwestern Iran. It seems surprising to find
there is a historical connection between Iran and Central Anatolia.
Dr. Gulgonen points out that this connection is worthy of ethnographic
research.

The exhibition is curated by Amelie Edgu and designed by Suzy
Hug-Levy.

Dolmabahce Cultural Center, Dolmabahce Palace, Besiktas

Ali Demir and his villagers

Ali Demir has been known for his earth-toned paintings of village life
since 1968 and his work is currently on view at the Doku Art Gallery
until April 1.

Demir, originally from Kayseri, has been painting since 1947 and has
had 58 solo exhibitions at home, 15 in Holland and Germany and has
sold more than 4,500 paintings to collectors around the world. In his
paintings he portrays Turkish villagers who have migrated to large
cities, primarily Istanbul, which make them virtually strangers in
their own country. Through this form of culture shock he tries to
reveal the Turkish character and nature.

Doku Art Gallery, 2nd Saloon, Ihlamur Tesvikiye Yolu (Av.Sureyya
Agaoglu Sokak) 4/2-3-4 80200 Tesvikiye.

Graphic-Caricature pictures by Gurbuz Dogan Eksioglu

The Beyoglu branch of Vakko will be hosting a display of Gurbuz Dogan
Eksioglu's works from April 14-May 2.

Eksioglu has won 23 international awards and 39 national prizes in his
career to date. His illustrations and caricatures have been published
in international journals in Japan, Canada, Italy, Germany, Belgium,
Bulgaria and America.

He says of his work: "I aim to unify the humour of caricaturist art
with the visual richness of painting in a philosophical way. There
must be humor for me to produce my work. I enjoy getting the viewer to
associate images with my paintings, like a magician astonishing the
audience when a rabbit appears from a hat. It is my belief that each
artist should be permanent, not short term, universal not local and
should open a window to the viewer, encouraging them to look at life
outside that window".

Vakko Beyoglu Art Gallery, Istiklal Cad, 123-125 Beyoglu

Landscape paintings, photographs and videos

The fourth exhibition of the newly designed, postmodern Borusan Art
Gallery focuses on landscape views in various mediums: painting,
photography and video. In this show, traditional landscape art takes a
post-modernist approach.

Artist Altan Gurman displays works of various mediums on canvas as
part of an installation work done in 1980. This work returns the
viewer to the near past, reflecting complex images of landscapes which
associate closely with the works of Bedri Baykam, Guven Incirlioglu,
Mustafa Pancar and Onder Erguven in the '90s.

A video workshop, "Scenes of Istanbul," was originally organized by
Angela Melitopoulos, at the German Cultural Center in 1995 and
encourages viewers to revisit their city visually once again.

The viewer is invited to contemplate the relationship between humanity
and nature; the span of relations between nature and art; the
consequences of altering nature.

The Borusan Art Gallery, Istiklal Cad, 421-423, Beyoglu. The
exhibition is open 10:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m., except Sundays and Mondays.

'Poet Father'

Ibrahim Balaban's paintings are like a lament for the dead. They
reflect a riot against the beauty consumed today. While globalism and
postmodernism threaten to sweep away national values, some
conscientious intellectuals like Balaban choose toprotect Turkish
national heritage in the midst of universal change.

Balaban is one of those rare artists who has realized the importance
of this contribution throughout his artistic life. His consciousness
stands up to the exploitation that postindustrialist society spreads
with its tendencies toward destroying humanistic values. He has
subsequently created a kind of conscious art form. When he pictures
the Anatolian earth, its people and nature, he emphasizes a process
that has a place in the adventure of humankind and the actions that
make us human.

This time he paints his memories of Nazim Hikmet, which gives the
exhibition its title, "Poet Father."

His work can be seen until April 1 at the Doku Art Gallery,

Saloon 1, Ihlamur Tesvikiye Yolu, 4/2-3-4, Tesvikiye

Impressions of Tuscany

The Italian Cultural Center is sponsoring a photographic show by Tunc
Tufekci, which runs until March 27.

Tufekci is a trained painter from Naples, Italy. He is currently the
head of the photography department of Mimar Sinan University. Tufekci
has contributed his paintings to exhibits in Naples, Paris and
Istanbul; some of these countries also have private collections of his
photos.

Italian Cultural Center (Cas d'Italia), Mesrutiyet Cad. 161, Tepebasi

'Terra di Riviera' (1984-1997)

"Terra di Riviera" (Coasts), is the second photographic exhibition to
be hosted by the Italian Cultural Center, March 16-28.

The artist, Paolo Cristiani, was born in Milan in 1956. He graduated
from the engineering faculty of the University of Pavia. He has
undertaken multiple projects for tourism agencies, the Milan Fair and
Italy's largest newspaper, Corriera della Sera. For this exhibition,
he has compiled over 100 photographs from various exhibitions between
1983 and 1997.

The exhibit is sponsored by the Ugo Mulas Museum of Italian
Photography and will travel to Egypt, Greece, Israel and Spain after
leaving Turkey at the end of this month.

A special event at Tolga Eti Art Gallery

Erdinc Bakla will be celebrating his 40 years in art at the Tolga Eti
Art Gallery with a ceramics exhibition, open until April 3.

His first solo show was in 1967. He produces his ceramic figures and
busts from samot clay and fires them after painting, without glaze.

Bakla retired as a professor of the ceramics department ofMarmara
University in 1997. Bakla has done much research on Iznik and Kutahya
Porcelain and has published a book on "Lule making in Tophane".

Tolga Eti Art Gallery, Bagdat Cad., Yenikosk Apt 199, B Block
Selamicesme/Kadikoy

European-Turkish synthesis

The German-born painter, Marianne Angersbach, who paints under the
name MariannA, is also the wife of renowned New York Times journalist
Stephen Kinzer. Her first solo show in Turkey, "Motion and Emotion,"
opens March 27 at the Asmalimescit Gallery in Tunel.

MarianneA studied art in Germany and has exhibited her works widely
there. They are also in private collections in Berlin and other German
cities, as well as in New York, Washington and Boston.

MarianneA's oil paintings are semi-abstract, full of light and depth
with hints of figures and natural scenes. Her new works combine her
European training with impressions from her Turkish experience.

They are, however, experiences from the fortunate side of life. Her
Istanbul studio is in Tarabya, close to the Bosphorus and Belgrade
Forest; she spends summers painting in Cape Cod and in a forest
cottage near the Rhine in Germany. Nice work if you can get it.

The exhibition is sponsored by the Ciragan Palace Hotel Kempinski and
Coca-Cola.

Asmalimescit Gallery Sofyali Sok. 5 Tunel (across from Refik's)

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