İzmir artist attacks ‘man’s alienation from nature’

Nazlan Ertan – İZMİR

For Semra Ay Çırpan, art does not only use nature as a subject – it is also a means to defend the environment and warn mankind against the perils of alienating nature. 

The young painter, from Yaşar University’s Fine Arts Department, draws a clear picture of the relationship between man and nature in her exhibition, “Nature’s Labyrinth,” currently showing at Galeri A in İzmir.

Most of Ay’s works carry straight and clean lines with a deep perspective, including roads that seem to move you away from nature.  

“My main subject, particularly in my most recent works, is the nature that has become a hostage of urbanization, locked between ugly buildings,” she told the Hürriyet Daily News. 

Many of the paintings in the exhibition are strikingly similar: Long lines and mixed techniques. Two works in particular, both of which were specially crafted for the exhibition, stand out, including a beach scene. 

“I made sketches for a long time to capture the movement of the sea, the light and the sentiment of peace.

 We could not use real sand because it is legally forbidden to remove sand from beaches,” Ay said, although the “sand’ is still very close to the color and feel of real sand.

If the beach sand is the symbol of the beauty of the nature, the opposite is her three dimensional work on colored corn, or, with its market name, Glass Gem Corn. The multicolor corn cobs are placed in a plexiglass pyramid, not unlike a miniature version of the Pyramid of Louvre. Inside the first pyramid, right under the cobs, there is a second one made of glass. 

“This is to enable a glance at ourselves, to come to terms with what we are doing to destroy nature,” said Ay.
 
“Genetically modified corn is on our tables and in our kitchens. Hence the glass: We need to take a strong look at ourselves to see how much we are helping to destroy nature,” she added.