Gülseven Coles – My Other World

Exhibition of Paintings at the Eaved House

By Heidi Trautmann…..

On November 17 the Eaved House saw many art lovers and friends of Gülseven in its beautiful courtyard assembled for the opening of her 6th solo exhibition under the title of ‘My Other World’, a collection of paintings that, she says, was inspired  by travelling, with her husband Morton, to beautiful shores and exploring the underwater world snorkelling.

I had prepared a little speech for my friend Gülseven, and I think there I said it all:

Good evening, Friends of Gülseven and art lovers who have come to see what may be behind the announced title ‘My Other World’, I feel honoured to have been asked by Gülseven to say some words of introduction. We have not only been friends for many years but also working together as part of the Thursday Art Group and have gone through many experiences on the art side.  I first met her when she worked for her first exhibition on the beautiful inner life of semi precious stones and also on her following ones over the last years.

She invited me to her studio to see the paintings she has been preparing for this exhibition and the first impression entering my mind after having seen the 54 paintings she was framing herself, was a quote by Jules Verne, or rather two of his quotes:

The sea is the vast reservoir of Nature. The globe began with sea, so to speak; and who knows if it will not end with it?”

The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides. The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing but love and emotion.

I was a Jules Verne Fan in my young days as so many others of you I am sure; he disclosed for us those worlds which have kept us in awe when we were growing up, especially his book ’20,000 Leagues under the Sea’ fascinated me.

Gülseven was born in Paphos right next to the sea and its airs and music got into her blood as she was telling me, the love for the sea has never left her. Even when she lived in England with her family for 26 years she always came to the island once a year, to the shores of her childhood, to show her children this special companion of her young days. Wherever she travelled it was the sea that fascinated her most.

You can realize in her paintings – done in acrylic, oil and water colour –  that Gülseven did some research below sea level, discovering the world of light that reigns, filtered through layers of water, be it on a sunny morning when she was snorkelling, a cloudy day or close to sunset, the atmosphere under the surface of the water will change with the day progressing. The underwater world, a kingdom in itself, honoured and greatly feared since the beginning of our existence, since the first living cell left the sea to face the world above, the amniotic fluid we once come from. The sea played an important role in the Ancient Times in all cultures of the world, people gave them Gods, fairies and  creatures and created stories around them and the sea became a world of wonders and mysteries, feared, loved but respected.

Alas, this is no longer so, says Gülseven, on our coasts and many others around the world you will find the waste of our modern world stranded, thrown away by negligent people who are getting it for nothing from a negligent industry going on to produce indestructible materials. It is a statement, she says, she wants to make, she wants to show how beautiful and precious the sea is and that its dwellers need our protection and our respect. The sea is the lung of our world and if we go on feeding it with plastic it will start to suffer severely from it, and the fish we eat will pass on the poison to us and our children, the poison we have delivered in the first place.

Yes, Gülseven, this is a very important message you are giving us, it is alas left to the artists of all disciplines to admonish society to take better care of our cultural assets. Perhaps with some insistence we succeed in reaching open ears of  our politicians to stop the littering with appropriate laws.

Thank you, Gülseven, for reminding us by showing us your ‘Other World’ you have created with your brush.

The exhibition is open until Saturday, November 21.

There is a permanent exhibition of her work at her ZEN Gallery and studio at 90 Sht. Celal Hasan Cad. İn Lapta. Tel. 0548 822 2868 – zenatay50@gmail.com

Editor’s Note:

Please note the exhibition has now been extended until Friday 27th November.