Hello Friends…
In this article, I will try to explain something, especially through my pictures. In fact, I will continue the second and third parts in the coming months. I included a few of my pictures along with the text so that I could explain what I mean in my pictures by looking at them at the same time. In reality, it is very difficult for a painter to describe his paintings. But I will try. Generally, no matter which painting you look at, you’ll see a square and rectangles of various sizes in an elongated form. These rectangles rotate variously to the right or to the left, traveling on the same plane or in space. And they start their journey from one end, to another area, out the other end, and continue. These right and left turns to take the form of passing over those who came before them. These rectangles can be a light green, a dark blue, or a mid-tone red, depending on the situation.
Let me tell you more step by step now. Let’s imagine or see that a square (or quadrilateral, rectangle) starts out from any corner (edge) of the canvas, to the right or left, up and down (you can follow it by opening one of my pictures at the same time while reading the article).
I usually predetermine where these sequences will go, from the first right and left turns to the end. Of course, this determination is made after many experiments. But when I start to paint, this trend can sometimes change, so if I draw a line that needs to go, it can sometimes deviate from this line and show a change close to the right or left. It also depends on my mood at that moment. A person’s mental state and thoughts can change from moment to moment. We witness these departures exiting from the same place, and sometimes re-entering the same place, and sometimes even when the entrances respond to these exits, they can enter once again from the side they exited. It can also exit from there again and move towards its entrance from another side. In addition to these, while these quadrilaterals progress in one dimension, they continue on their way by passing over, sometimes on the right and sometimes on the left of other quadrilaterals that they come upon. If the quadrilaterals it passes over are of dark origin, if they are of a light character in your field, then they create a contrast to each other; they create tension, they can be tough, and they create an intransigent situation. When your quadrilateral passes through the area of another quadrilateral (if that quadrilateral is close to a light tone), it can also become an attitude that reconciles with it, has no tension, and gets along in harmony with each other.
Again, on this journey, when we encounter a third quadrilateral, if we see that the tone of this quadrilateral is also mid-tone, this time our own light-toned quadrilateral encounters a softer contrast instead of the hard contrast it encountered before. It has tension, but not sharp. It doesn’t draw attention there. However, our light-toned quadrilateral is replaced by a moderate level of reconciliation, this time instead of a very reconciled, tension-free, calm situation in the previous quadrangle. Of course, this journey does not continue in the same way in all areas. Half can be in conflict until you go from one end to the other. Sometimes, while presenting very soft attitudes, it may encounter tensions in very few places, albeit a little.
Dear friends, these journeys, these departures and arrivals in my paintings; sometimes there are tensions; and sometimes to calm down, let me try to explain clearly what the compromise is. Doesn’t what I describe in my paintings actually happen in our lives as well? Sometimes we have things that go wrong, there are situations where we disagree with our friends, we break up with them, we spend an unhappy, tense day or days, months; sometimes we get good news and bad news on the same day; sometimes it can be the other way around.
As for the question of how the adventures in my paintings occur in which spaces? Differences in situation, tone, size, and smallness can be factors, and sometimes the color structure affects the whole of my painting, even though I use a very little color. You feel the richness of form and tone more in my paintings. Color comes in third place. Of course, believe me, I don’t know what kind of an understanding of painting will go towards in the next process.
Here is my understanding of my paintings, life itself. That’s pretty much how it’s formed, isn’t it? Look at your own life, sometimes negativities, sometimes positive situations, it develops completely in proportion to your savings and the things that occur in front of you. It also goes well in a constant tension-free state. The rectangle over there could be anything; it can be about life, joy, sadness, and whatever you call it, that thing, anything. Life is about everything and something. Indifference and relatedness are always related to each other. What kind of life you want to lead will be determined by your efforts, savings, and interests. For this reason, the emergence of things called paintings and works of art is realized by human beings. No matter how incomprehensible, unknowable, how many abstract paintings or works of art, in fact, they are all about everything that the concept of humans does. When you start questioning yourself, it means you are starting to understand the phenomenon of art. Because the work is not about one thing, it is about everything.
Dear friends, in my next articles, I will try to enlighten and inform you about the sources of my paintings. The narratives will continue as long as I can. Because a few articles will not be enough for them. It should be continuous.
Goodbye, for now… Keep thinking, working, questioning… Take care of yourself…
Murat Mete Agyar, Professor
Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University,
Facebook: Murat Mete Agyar
Instagram: @muratmeteagyar
