Concentrate on Art

Yesterday on Istiklal Caddesi I saw a few art exhibitions, one that included work from John Baldessari and Jenny Holtzer (it was a group show on art and Freud) and another of some European performance artists. Today we revisited the Istanbul Modern Art Museum, saw some new Turkish painters. But my main success was that I got a catalog of my favorite Turkish artist, Inci Eviner, who I was pleased to find out is a woman. She uses many media, including sculpture, installation and video, but I really love her ink drawings. Her work often is about the body.
Here’s a quote:
Professionally, I do not think that women artists meet with any obstacles. Indeed, we outnumber the men. Unlike the female artists of Europe and America, we have experienced no difficulty finding a spot in the galleries and museums. On the other hand, we have an exceedingly muddled and agonizing sexual identity. For my generation (born in 50s), in particular, the female body was an arena for ideological models, which were insidiously connected to morality in general. The republican woman transferred the darkness of her own sexuality to men, in order to share their legal rights. In my view this was delusory. The body in socialist ideology, meanwhile, neutered the sexes and made them identical. In our own day, Islam controls women by covering them up. I feel that in Turkey the female body and the ideologies which surround it should be excavated and brought to light. Only then can there be a sound basis to discuss realms of freedom. If women in recent years have produced important work, it shows that they are traitors. They have betrayed the art training which was deemed suitable for their delicate natures, and betrayed as well their fathers, brothers and husbands.”
I’m trying to concentrate only on art and career right now, as the rest of my life is … I just got an exhibition for June in Ankara, so that’s good. I need to do a new project, maybe performance art starring me, Kloe, and critiquing an aspect of Turkish culture that is driving me mad… needs more thought.