Mertim Gokalp: 2014

Opening speech – Janis Lander “There has been quite a bit written in the press about this latest exhibition Mertim Gokalp, which shows how much interest this artist is generating. Interviewers have used the term “subjective portraits” – meaning that Mertim deploys techniques designed to shift the focus in a portrait away from social and professional trappings, to the internal emotional landscape of the subject. In a sense all portrait are subjective, because they are specific, and individual, but in this sense the interviewers mean that Mertim is focusing on the emotional life of the subject, rather than on the role that person plays in an academic or a corporate institution. In terms of the artistic lineage of this kind of approach in portraiture, think not of Hans Holbein’s majestic portrait of King Henry VIII in full regalia, (which by the way, we only know through the copies made by other artists, since the original was lost in a fire) - think rather of Van Gogh’s self portrait with his ear bandaged. Mertim Gokalp is as devoted to his profession as any of the artists I have met. He works in the focused, compulsive-obsessive approach that marks all successful artists– contrary to popular belief, making art is not just “selfexpression” – after all, human beings are creative beings – we all “express” ourselves constantly. Making art is a chosen profession. Whether an artist chooses to sculpt in clay or chisel marble, or paint or dance or compose symphonies, all the arts make huge demands of the artist – acquiring the skill set, devoting hours of labour, and developing the conceptual intelligence to take an arsenal of basic techniques and materials and create a painting or a play or a sculpture that speaks to people with a unique voice, communicating a profound insight, or offering some whimsical observation of our shared human condition. It is in this way that the arts serve the community, and add to the cultural capital of our civilization. It is at the interface between the intuitive nature of the arts and the scientific nature of technologies that the soul of a civilization is truly reflected. In terms of their feeling Mertim’s portraits are more whimsical and more fantastical than the heavy psychological portraits by the Symbolists in the 19th and 20th centuries, full of dread and nameless horrors. Mertim’s work is optimistic and joyful in the forward-looking way of our contemporary 21st century world view, and offer the suggestion that isolating personal emotions may veil a greater spiritual dimension where we are all connected.