By
Heidi Trautmann
The
ArtRooms in Girne could finally open their doors to the public again, after one
and a half years, to a new era, the post-pandemic era, and they opened with a
very high-level artist, with Emin Çizenel.
I
had a preview yesterday on June 03, and I had the chance to meet Emin Çizenel
next to his old teacher from Limassol, the short story writer and poet Mehmet
Kansu, who praised him as a very good student, always very properly and
elegantly dressed, well behaved and polite. I learnt some stories, learnt that
he, Emin, was goal keeper for his football team which he stopped being when he
went to study in Istanbul. And right there in the entrance of the ArtRooms, is his
big installation of his football team with him in front as the goal keeper.
Perhaps,
I would say, he is also the goal keeper in a metaphorical sense, goal keeper
for his country, the island of Cyprus, the fighter for peace and truth with his
art. Over the many years, I have often thought about his way to approach these
themes in each exhibition I have attended and I want to repeat some remarks I
made in two reviews which describe his philosophy and his way of working:
“…..I
like his playfulness, with a sometimes ironic twist, and the joy he takes in
experimenting, seeking the adventure in the field of art. In my opinion it is
not the big thing he is after but the small sign hidden like a needle in a hay
stack. When you regard his large paintings, it is a small imprint, a circle or
half-moon that catches your eye…. “
Or:
“…..
Emin Cizenel plays with the structure of his paintings, I am sure there is
nothing he has not tried, photography, soot of a candle, tapestry, whatever
makes a shape or gives off some colourful meaning, is useful…..”
In
the current exhibition he predominantly uses triangles formed by different
materials brought together to make ‘masses’, I interprete it as population, rooftops,
heads of citizens, tree tops of a forest, and there are single differently
coloured ones for those who make a difference….
Emin
Çizenel
wants us to think, to find our own conclusions.
The exhibition will be open to visit from 4th
of June. The exhibition is open every day from 12.00-21.00 except Tuesday.
Information: 0542 856 7077.