By
Heidi Trautmann
On
June 17 – in Germany it is a national holiday in Germany in remembrance of the
People’s Uprising in East Germany in 1953 – and it is in remembrance of his
beloved wife Tijen that Şenol Özdevrim opened his exhibition 2014 with
paintings and sculptures, the wife and
supporter of his work I have also met in
2007 at their apartment in Kyrenia.
Şenol
held the opening speech himself and the guests were listening respectfully and
I could see that everybody was touched by his words. At the end he said that
our life time is so short, one should not forget to love your next and invited
them to hug the person next to one; and so I got a bıg hug by Ipek Denizli
Karagöz, the artist, one of the few artists that had come to pay their respect
to Şenol.
Şenol
has his fans as I can always observe, that are his students, and it is touching
to see them embracing their teacher and looking up to him. He is a good art teacher
with an enormous fundus of imagination; once I visited him in his class room at
the GAU College, (you may read the text on my website by entering my name and
art at GAU College) and was witness to his teaching activities.
He
is a student of Ali Atakan and Şınası Tekman, two very fine artists, both had a
defining influence on him with respect to strength of expression and
workmanship. Senol is an extremely accurate painter and uses many media, from pencil
and ink to oil and mixed techniques. His colours are very clear and patiently
he puts one layer on top of each other so the underlying one shines through. He
thus creates depth. His paintings are never muddy, they are sparking like
precious stones in its clarity. In some pictures you get the feeling of travelling
through a human body, full of organs and floating cells. In my book ‘Art and
Creativity in North Cyprus’ which is in English and Turkish, I explain his way
of painting in details.
Also
his sculptures from clay are clear in expression and full of philosophical
thoughts, thoughts about humanity and society,
balance and beauty and destruction.
For
more photos see my website.
The
exhibition is still on until June 27 at the Atatürk Cultural Centre. Viewing
times are at official governmental office hours.