CONGLOMERATE
...Constantinople
is a Babylon, a world, a chaos.
İs it beautiful? Marvellously.
Ugly? Horribly! So,
Do you like it? It facinates me.
Shall you remain? How on earth can
I tell?
Can anyone tell how long he is likely to stay on another planet?...
E. De Amicis
Constantinople 1878
The whole is greater than its
parts
A friend of mine, Altan Adalı, once told me that the most
difficult painting for an artist to do
painting is a self- portrait.
“As you paint,” he said, “you’ll know immediately when
you’re lying.”
Kaostantin is Siir’s self portrait of Istanbul.
You may say this is not the Istanbul I know.
If there’s a lie about the city, don’t look for it in her
paintings.
For too long we have been deluded by our consumption of the
city.
Not just through our gaping at grandoise projects undertaken by megalomaniac
politicians and developers who can’t see beyond their greed, but also through
our artists, writers and poets who only see the city in their own image.
Şiir
brings together composite images of the city and it’s people from everyday
life.
Given its over 2000
year history, Istanbul having lived through empires, religions,
earthquakes, and destruction from within
and without, is a uniquely ephemeral city. Şiir’s paintings are
not only a document to the future but a merry go round look at ourselves and
Istanbul.
Look carefully- you may even recognize yourself.
Gündüz Vassaf
Ortigia, 2016
