Gönül Sen-Menzel: “My Passion Is Color”

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Bergkamen-Oberaden. A jumble of orange, green, red and blue – that is all you can make out when you stand directly in front of the picture.

Step back a few paces, and the dark blue brushstrokes in the middle of the work become a dancing woman. She throws her head back expressively and stretches her arms toward the sky. This work from the series “The Dance” can now also be admired at the municipal gallery “sohle 1”: yesterday an exhibition by the Cologne-based painter Gönül Sen opened there.

“The subject is not so important. My passion is color,” explains the Turkish artist, who has lived in Germany since 1981. “I am always looking for even brighter colors.” Blue, purple, green, yellow, orange – Gönül Sen expresses her joie de vivre in a colorful way. But she also wants to depict the aspect of freedom: “Turkish women are not very free. I find my freedom in painting.” This aspect is well expressed in the series “Malaga”: inspired by a vacation in Spain, Gönül Sen captured the port of Malaga in six pictures. Together they form a landscape: mountains and a glowing red sky, scattered houses and boats on the sea. But each picture has its own composition. The “Malaga” series, prepared for a long time with sketches and photos, is also an excellent example of the artist’s way of working: “When I paint, it goes very quickly. Developing a concept for the picture takes much longer. You have to prepare a lot.”

The 43-year-old – teacher, housewife and mother – does not have much time for art, said Professor Günter H. Blecks of the Düsseldorf Art Academy in his introductory talk. “The pictures are wrested from her living and working conditions, an expression of ‘in spite of everything’.” Nevertheless: “Making art as a woman is easier here in Germany,” the artist knows. She liked to paint even as a child, but her father later forbade it.

A good thing Gönül Sen did not listen to him: otherwise the art lovers of Bergkamen could not now admire her colorful survey at “sohle 1” on Oberaden’s Museumsplatz. The exhibition is open until May 2. (an)

Original caption: Bergkamen’s cultural affairs head Dieter Treeck, the artist Gönül Sen and Prof. Günter H. Blecks on Sunday morning at the municipal gallery “sohle 1”.