Gönül Sen-Menzel: Luminous Colors Show Freshness and Spontaneity

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Bergkamen. The pictures of the Turkish artist Gönül Sen conveyed untamed freshness and spontaneity to visitors at the exhibition opening on Sunday morning at the sohle 1.

Color is a passion for her, said Gönül Sen; she wants to bring objects and landscapes to life through luminous colors, with no fixed theme in the foreground. Her pictures can be admired at the sohle 1 for the second time already, and Dieter Treeck was particularly surprised by the dynamic and explosive development and the artist’s own pictorial language, which he discovered on seeing the works again.

The introductory talk, meant to bring Gönül Sen’s works closer to the audience, was given by the art professor Günter H. Blecks from Düsseldorf. Professor Blecks teaches at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, where the Turkish-born artist also completed a second course of study. In 1981 the painter moved from Turkey to Germany with her husband, also a painter, who is likewise no stranger in Bergkamen. In Turkey she had already completed a traditional art degree and worked as an art teacher.

Professor Blecks pointed out the elementary power of Ms. Sen’s pictures, in whose splendor of color viewers can delight and immediately feel at ease. The artist masterfully manages to convey untamed freshness and spontaneity with the confidence of a child. She has found a way to bring back to life the original creative potential that every person is naturally born with.

Gönül Sen’s way of painting is spontaneous. She applies the quick-drying acrylic paints to the canvas rapidly. Her work is not based on elaborate preparation and long-pondered color combinations; instead, at breakneck speed, color combinations are woven into an ambiguous relationship between figure and ground that only gains weight from the whole, said Blecks. Time and again, the pictures bear witness to magical and mystical parts of consciousness, similar to the tension between cultures. With the help of her art, the artist seeks a way to balance the two different realities she encounters in her life.

There are no limits to Gönül Sen’s imagination and love of experiment. She works with sand and glue compounds to create strongly textured surfaces, and in some newer works she achieves special effects with nail polish.

In numerous exhibitions, the artist has already presented her works to a large audience in many German galleries, in her hometown of Istanbul and in Belgium. (luk)

Original caption: Since Sunday, the artist Gönül Sen has been exhibiting her colorful works at the municipal gallery sohle 1 in Oberaden.