LOOK UP!
Exhibition of printworks
by Ertunç Sali
18.10.2022 (Kulturno Informativen Centar – KIC, Skopje)
In 2020, on one of the quarantine days, while searching the internet for something interesting, I came across a news story – with a big headline – “PERSEVERANCE IS ON MARS!”. What is perseverance? Why is it on Mars? Is this NASA or is it Elon Musk? Are they lying to us? Wait, what is this Perseverance? It means persistence, but what is persistence? PERSEVERANCE after CURIOSITY?
“It is impossible for the brain to accept the vastness of the cosmos, to understand the universe by its nature and to observe evolution with complete clarity, but our curiosity is the reborn of our understanding” was the most common sentence that was repeated on several portals that served me inspiration, and that was enough for me! I found something that will excite me, will make me research, inform myself, then draw. Every artist’s big bang is different, including mine. When it bursts, the possibilities it offers in creating visions and ideas are endless. On the other hand, the universe is endless and inspiration is everywhere. All one has to do is look up at the white dots of the black sheet that hangs above us, a guide in darkness, a connection in solitude, a desire in nothingness. And I did that. Maybe I didn’t stare at the sky every evening/night, Skopje is cloudy most of the time, but I didn’t avoid opportunities. With each look up, the images became clearer. The characters were clear to me, through which I would express the peace received from the universe. Still symbolic, and above all lyrical.
The exhibition “Look Up!” is composed of 20 graphics made in the linocut technique. Most of the graphics are combined with other techniques that are unconventional for graphics. You can see my attempt to break the rules in graphics in the combination of classic and street technique. Such a practice for traditional graphic artists is blasphemy, heresy, but for open minds it is a new game. However, the results – the printed graphics – are not on the same side as the traditionalists, but they offer a new vision. That is the essence of “Look Up!”
Check all the artworks from this exhibition.
