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What
draws the artist’s attention
most is the confrontation between 15th century Italian art and
German Gothic, more than the mix of styles of which mannerism
is made. Here the painting of Nezir attains voluptuousness.
It is interesting to see how Nezir succeeds in amalgamating
fabulous traditional themes with the tastes of today; a splash
of surrealism, echoes of German Fachlighkeit (OTTO DIX in particular)
and a big helping of magic surrealism and the delicious inventions
of science fiction. Some audacious perspectives, fragmented
in elongated and forced viewpoints, certain naturalistic obsessions,
and above all the mix of old and new (e.g. ; the human and the
mechanical) make this painting fascinating. These same deformations
become a game, not so much of formalism, but of an expressive
element with deep psychological implications. Imbalance and
incongruity are naturally a part of the scene. A poignant symbolic
quintessence is attained with the images turned against themselves
with all the tubes and filaments and mechanical insertions in
the body. |
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Painting
such as this with its anachronism and classical references is
very surprising in today’s art scene. We are in the presence
of a past so strong that it produces strange forward movements;
we have trouble discerning what belongs to history and what
echoes fantasy. Nezir moves in ambiguous ground, were the very
risky means spell out a spirit of challenge and adventure. Given
the cultural context, this is perfectly plausible. It is interesting
to note how this challenge is carried forward, a visceral pleasure
to admire the ability of a painter with the patience of a medieval
miniaturist.
A Turk from Kurdistan comes to exhibit in Venice, a city still
imbued with an oriental memory, to unlock a world (that of the
gothic German, modeled by the renaissance spirit of Dürer)
which seems frozen in its gilded molding. ....History
can be delivered to us in fantasy. The tubes that protrude from
the woman’s body are the symptoms of this improbable result. |
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