Gönül Sen-Menzel: Musical Impulses in Vingst

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Vingst. Things took on an oriental flair at the parish hall of St. Theodor.

In front of around 100 guests, the Turkish artist Gönül Sen made colorful sketches of Tatjana Kleinow’s belly dance. The multimedia performance opened the exhibition of pictures by Gönül Sen in the parish hall.

“The people of Vingst have so far had hardly any opportunity to engage with art in their district,” said Gundula Meiners of the Catholic Education Center. She organized this exhibition together with the parish of St. Theodor. Gönül Sen’s works testify to a wealth of color and surprising ideas. Her themes relate to everyday life: portraits, landscapes and street scenes. Her painterly treatment of these themes is spontaneous and crosses boundaries. This creates seemingly contradictory pictorial spaces and color effects that press against one another on the canvas. “Gönül Sen’s pictures trigger something in every viewer,” says Gundula Meiners.

After studying at the art college in Istanbul and working as a teacher for several years, Gönül Sen, 43, came to Germany with her husband in 1981. In Düsseldorf she attended the Art Academy. For ten years Gönül Sen has been looking after her compatriots and running German courses. “The exhibition of Gönül Sen’s works is only the beginning; there is a cultural need in Vingst,” says Gundula Meiners. The pictures can be seen in the parish hall, Burgstraße 42, until June 13.

Original caption: For the opening of the exhibition, Gönül Sen made sketches of Tatjana Kleinow’s belly dance.