The works of Nasip İyem, one of the special names of Turkish art, who passed away in 2011, are together again after 20 years... A special selection organized by Evin Art Gallery in cooperation with Sanayi 313 was opened to visitors. Nasip İyem's women have a lot to say to today...
He spent his childhood in Gönen with his potter uncles. “Everyone was making rag dolls, I was making dolls from pottery,” he said of those years. The passion of the artist, who explains with the words "Mud is my greatest love", is very strong. Nasip Hanım, who started receiving her first painting education at Fatih Community Center and entered the Academy of Fine Arts in 1939, met Nuri İyem, one of the masters of Turkish painting, here again. They get married shortly after. Although she continues to make designs for different places, especially Vakko, over time her pottery dolls turn into women who go beyond time and space.
In the selection at the corner of Sanayi 313, Nasip İyem's women whisper to the audience. Young faces looking sad, smiling old eyes, pessimists, rebels, angry people... This is not a chance meeting. In the artist's journey between civilizations, women from Ionia, Hittite, Anatolia and ancient times unite and become immortal. Works inspired by the idols of Anatolian civilizations; Terracotta female statues of fertility goddesses, pregnant or with children in their arms, highlight figures that the artist frequently deals with, such as fertility and mother and child. And it opens a new field of investigation with today's judgments on the states of womanhood. By questioning the endless problems of the world, a work by Nasip İyem in the exhibition asks the most key question in today's world, where women are the most affected by war, especially in Gaza: "Where will civilization be unless this war stops!"
The last exhibition of the artist, who passed away in 2011, was opened at Evin Art Gallery with his wife Nuri İyem in 2004. The new selection reminds us to look at his art again after 20 years. But it should be added that Nasip İyem is not a forgotten name. Her works, which sometimes contain all the aspects of femininity in a single face, have always continued to remind herself and speak out. Iyem's works continued to write their own story in exhibitions such as "Brave World Again" held at Evin Art Gallery last year and "I, You, Them" in Meşher, in different collections and public libraries. It is also possible to see the artist's works at the Haliç Shipyard, which opened in the past weeks.
Grandson Osman Nuri İyem from Evin Art Gallery, who continues this legacy with care and effort, stated that Nuri İyem and Nasip İyem differed with materials and cultural differences, and said: "While Nuri İyem's Anatolian women were living women of that period, Nasip İyem also attracted women from different civilizations from Ionia. looking. There is already a consistent discourse, good plastic and aesthetics within its linear flow. "But when we look at it personally, I think it is very important that he left such a permanent mark despite being with a very powerful figure," he says.
While this selection reminds us of an artist who wrote her own story 'without being overshadowed by her artist husband', it is also a call to 'confront' her faces. The selection can be viewed until May 24.
Source:https://www.milliyet.com.tr/kultur-sanat/nerede-medeniyet-bu-savas-durmadikca-7104761