Everything About Art With Mete

Hello dear readers,
In this second meeting, we will talk about what we should see in a work of art, what we should look at and how we should look. Or rather, how should we approach it, or do we need to give a meaning or not? The how question is the most important question type here. The what question just defines that thing and it’s over. The question “How” tells the whole story.

If we explain these through a painting, it will be more clearly understood. When starting a painting (after various sketches), the artist first decides whether the dimensions of the painting should be horizontal or vertical. Because he thinks whether the painting, he will make will be effective in a vertical rectangle or a horizontal rectangle. Then he creates his picture with plastic elements such as line, tone, color. It can also be created with a mixture of elements or with collages, assemblages. He creates the picture (intellectually or intuitively) by making calculations with the bottom-upper or right-left sides of the picture.

How do we look at pictures as an outsider or how should we look? For example, when we look at a typical Mondrian painting, we see dark areas in the form of black bands. Black areas define the red, blue, yellow and white rectangles. The picture appears in a layout, a system. Colored areas are not in a certain symmetry, but to provide the balance of the picture and to protect the warmcold effect. With the colors red, blue and yellow, we see the most basic understanding of color. As we have said, these appear as a phenomenon of order.

If we look at it through the eyes of people who know this business (people who have studied painting, studied art, and know the philosophy of it), situations arise that we can make sense of. Because if the artist uses vertical forms and areas in his painting, he wants something to stand, to remain standing, to create a structure against right-left horizontal forms and areas. Again, if we see a lot of horizontals in a picture, the situation of the opposite verticals will determine the strength of those horizontals. Everything exists with its opposite. As you know, philosophy also manifests itself with the principle of “Unity of Opposites”. Where there are opposites, there is energy, there is excitement, there is enthusiasm. Vertical x horizontal, curved x straight, soft x hard, black x white, etc. There are countless examples. If we add diagonals and dynamic structures to these, pictures emerge that we need to think about. By the way, these structures we count are the things that exist in our own lives. Because if we pay attention to our lives; We see very clearly the various contrasts, the harmonies, our tensions, what we want or don’t want, what we like or don’t like. In other words, our pictures are our life itself. Because the artist does not show anything that he does not know, see, feel or experience in his painting. The artist paints what he reads, tastes, loves and
knows. Of course, he realizes these through reason and emotion. After all, the combination of reason and emotion is sensitivity. The artist perceives everything with his sensitive antennae. This is how he creates his works.

So, how do we look at the pictures? We do not have that much knowledge and experience. We may not even have to know. The important thing here is this. “The artist is first and foremost a human being.” This quote belongs to Chopin. In other words, an artist is a person who cries, laughs, cheers, shouts, loves, is loved, and has various ups and downs in life. Artists have lifestyles just like us. When he makes this way of life more sensitive, he creates works of art.

Now, if we go back to our topic again, in its simplest form, if you put forth what you feel, what makes you feel, from the heart to a painting, believe me, you will have displayed your best approach. If you look at a work of art with all your sincerity and character, you will feel all the facts of that work. You discover that the artwork is a good picture or a problematic one. Therefore, whether you are looking at a concrete or abstract painting you do not have to understand the painting. When you look at it with your whole personality, from the heart, you will notice, see and enjoy the beautiful things there. In addition to these, when looking at the picture, there is information on it, and the way to get that information is to ask questions to it. The way to ask these questions is to wonder, to have knowledge, to read. The more you ask yourself and life questions, the more meaning your life starts to gain. In this case, communication begins between you and the picture. You start to get the effects of the picture, and your being like yourself is revealed.

Dear friends, these subjects are so comprehensive that they are like an ocean or an infinite universe. I will refer to this subject again and again in my future articles, and I will try to explain it as much as I can.

Until we meet again, keep acting like yourself, your originality. That’s how it feels best.

Murat Mete Agyar, Professor
Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University,
Facebook: Murat Mete Agyar
Instagram: @muratmeteagyar