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Gönül Şen, who has opened her ninth solo exhibition at Galerie Vepa, lives in Germany. In 1972 she graduated from the art department of the Education Institute. In 1981 she went to the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1983 she completed painting at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences. From 1983 to 1987 she studied painting at the Düsseldorf Art Academy.
The artist’s drawing is powerful and relaxed. Harmony and balance show in the massive forms as well as in the contours and deformations, and there is a lightness in line and expression.
The colorful trace left by the street: the fleeting (spontaneous) image in motion is rendered with colors and patches in a warm, lively atmosphere.
Interiors and figure compositions with several people (compositions with two, three or seven figures), captured in their momentary movement – color-accented, expressive – pictures that carry joie de vivre with color, liveliness, movement of the figures and warm tones against a dark ground. Likewise the harmony arising from the movements of the figures who paint, sit, stand or work in the interior. The faces of the figurative forms are expressionless. The massively built figures are formally framed by outer contours in contrasting colors. Red, yellow, navy blue, orange and green are used effectively both in the inner surface of the picture and in the contours that sharpen the composition.
The review appeared in the art magazine Sanat Olayı, No. 60, May 1987. Translated from Turkish for senmenzel.com.
