Reaching oneself and exploring the inner self has become almost everyone's mission in the last century. For this purpose, various motivational speeches, the importance of meditation and "energy," mindfulness, or similar methods of self-discovery are constantly sought after on social media and countless other platforms. However, for many people, the inability to fulfill these methods leaves them in a state of limbo.
Cem Güventürk, a caricaturist with a unique drawing style and coloring technique, has successfully depicted this sense of being in limbo in his exhibition titled "I Will Reach Myself but From Which Way," displayed at the Hope Alkazar building on Istiklal Avenue. With a satirical tone, he addresses these problems tactfully.
"We constantly question how we can reach ourselves, fulfill ourselves, and search for an answer to that. So, I thought, why not explore this question with the audience? Why not search for the answer together at a moment like this? And that's how this idea came about."
While exploring the exhibition, visitors will find that Güventürk doesn't offer a specific path. Instead, he aims to find the answer together with the visitors. "We might get lost on this path, but we might also truly find the answer. I want this to be our adventurous journey, our own path. Leading someone somewhere is not the goal; finding an answer is not my main purpose."
In guiding people through this introspective journey, he approaches the topics with both criticism and charm, using minimal forms, diverse colors, and cunning expressions.
"But fundamentally, I always want this disturbingly realistic aspect to be there," he adds.
As you climb the stairs of the exhibition, you're greeted with a work titled "Tomato Paste." A warning is written: "Look at this artwork immediately before the climate activists arrive with tomato paste."
"It is a very recent topic to touch on. So, I enjoy pointing out the daily, the current. There's a bit of satire, a bit of criticism. There's a mocking tone, actually. Hence, this is one of my favorites. Without the need for a highly figurative or specific form, without any constraint," he explained.
Simultaneously, Güventürk critiques the constant emphasis on tolerating everything with slogans like "What doesn't kill you won't make you stronger. It'll just stand here and annoy you."
"It's a saying I like, but I enjoy criticizing things I like too because I don't like a statement or worldview completely influencing our lives. I want different perspectives, even arguments that can self-criticize and undermine themselves. So, although it's a saying I like, I also like being able to criticize it in an artwork. It's an antithesis – a counter-argument. I believe that the things that strengthen me also annoy me at the same time. So, this is another special piece for me," he elaborated.
He strives to support the striking nature of his creations with visuals, often incorporating his animation expertise to depict the transformation of ideas frame by frame. For instance, in one of his works, he starts with a clean form and gradually transitions into intricate patterns and intertwined human figures. He said: "I wanted it to be a reflection of the progression of life. Colors, perspectives, and that initial form all distort over time. We can consider it as a timeline of life."
As we continued up the stairs, we met a magician created with incredibly strange colors, reaching out his hand to us. Normally, a magician would show us a card and ask if it was the one we had chosen, but this "sad" magician had no card in his hand. Instead, he pointed at us, urging us to question if the life we had chosen was truly ours.
Next, with the artwork titled "The Body, The Mind, The Soul," we examine ourselves from three different perspectives.
"Here, it's a bit of criticism to 'mindfulness, our strength, we are strong' slogans; it's a realistic answer to questions like how mentally strong we are. I believe this is the endless cycle in which modern humanity finds itself trapped. The constant feeling of fatigue, the feeling of exhaustion, generally starts with the body. But in reality, it's what the mind thinks. Mentally, we are all tired as modern individuals. We are exhausted from rushing around everywhere. But the real question here is probably not who is tired, but what our purpose is here. So, I asked this question to the soul," he said.
"If you look at it, I tried to make the soul a bit layered. I tried to depict it as something modular that emerges from within. So, in essence, the soul is asking the most accurate and the most challenging question," he added.
As we walked further, we witnessed a painting with a character whose door was knocked by emotions, as he hastily closed the door by wedging it with a chair and hiding under a table.
"These are usually the things we want to avoid. In life, we tend to try to be indifferent, to be devoid of all emotions and feelings, sometimes wanting to feel nothing. This is a metaphor I often use. We are leaning something against the door, hiding behind something. Because we are usually afraid of feelings, not knowing if a feeling lasts for years or just a moment, and we want to distance ourselves. In this sense, the visualization of feelings knocking on the door but not entering is portrayed in two frames. I frequently use this figure; you've also seen it in previous works, with big ears, small-headed, long-legged, and so on. Here, I wanted to show how it behaves when it realizes there are feelings at the door," he explained.
Güventürk spoke passionately about his artistic process, emphasizing the importance of writing in his work. He explained how elements from the cartoon tradition, such as speech bubbles and subtitles, have always been integral to his drawings. Despite transitioning to larger canvases, Güventürk maintained the same formula, valuing the combination of visual and textual elements to convey his messages.
For that, this remarks on his artwork's emotional depth and unique approach. It was necessary to move away from classic cartoon forms to express the complexity of his ideas. He described his desire to highlight the artistic aspect more prominently, allowing for a deeper, more reflective portrayal of his characters.
We moved to the work that gave its name to the exhibition, comprising people searching for themselves.
"Some paths seem to lead somewhere. Some paths feel like we're buried within them. In some paths, we are of different colors. In some paths, we are not even within ourselves. Different personalities emerge from within us. In some paths, we are disconnected from each other. That's why, in some paths, we stand there, but there's a light as if we've gone somewhere. I can say it's a different reflection of many paths within ourselves," he said.
In doing so, Güventürk draws these characters with a psychological X-ray of a human being, capturing the bones, the soul, and their mind.
Güventürk's artistry also explores the interplay between order and chaos, creation and destruction. The exhibition continues with a deliberate act of destruction. Güventürk recounts the initial sense of dissatisfaction with his creation. "When I first drew this, everything was meticulously organized. The colors were precisely as I wanted them. But upon reflection, especially considering the accompanying text, I felt it had to be something ruined, something destroyed," he shared. The artist then embarked on a tactile journey, transforming the piece entirely by hand, utilizing scraping techniques and minimal brushes.
Güventürk's profound observations reflect the human condition – the constant pursuit to fill the emptiness with various distractions, whether shopping or engaging in hobbies that provide only temporary solace. With poignant simplicity, Güventürk's sculptures echo the struggles of parenthood, encapsulating the essence of unspoken emotions.
Among his creations, a sculpture stands out, embodying the complex notion of truth. "It may be right when it is right, but it feels more right when it is wrong," Güventürk muses. He draws inspiration from childhood, where simple games like Scrabble represented the building blocks of language and understanding. This installment, made from wood, embodies the harsh reality that humanity often avoids confronting – the core struggles we all silently endure.
In another masterpiece, Güventürk delves into the human desire for transient moments of eternity. Through intricate details and vibrant colors, he captures the essence of fleeting yet profound experiences, emphasizing the desire to savor a single moment indefinitely. The artistry extends to a thought-provoking piece, where vibrant colors symbolize the multifaceted nature of darkness. Through this, Güventürk challenges conventional beliefs, questioning why society categorizes negative experiences purely as dark when they can often manifest amidst brightness and warmth.
The exhibition culminates in a powerful piece, emphasizing the painful yet transformative nature of healing. A colossal representation of the healing process stands tall, reminding viewers that recovery, much like art, requires revisiting wounds at the end of the exhibition. Güventürk encourages visitors to return to this exhibition, to absorb its essence and reflect upon its meaning repeatedly, likening this process to the necessary pain of healing.
