Sign up for a free recipe e-book →

Clarissa's Blog

Gürbüz Doğan Ekşioğlu: A Riddle

Published by

Clarissa

on

Are you familiar with the work of Gürbüz Doğan Ekşioğlu? He is an absolutely genius artist from Turkey. Here is an amazing painting by him:

 

When I first saw it, I was not impressed. But then I discovered what it was supposed to mean and was stunned by the profoundness of its meaning.

What title would you give to this painting for it to make sense?

More great art from Gürbüz under the fold.

This work of art tells us that that every book we read requires many more books that have inspired this one:

Just think of everything this means:

18 responses to “Gürbüz Doğan Ekşioğlu: A Riddle”

  1. el Avatar
    el

    What is the 1st picture supposed to mean? Freedom = slavery? It reminds me of the idea of blind justice because of the weights (cages).

    RE the 2nd picture, did you mean that the author has to read many other books before writing his own? Or that a reader has to prepare himself by reading other works (that this is based on)?

    Like

    Reply
  2. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    nb. the following aren’t necessarily my opinions, but the overall message I get from the paintings (doubtless colored by my world view but not equivalent to it).

    The first means there can be no peace between the free and the imprisoned as peace requires balance and if only one side can fly the balance is lost.

    My message on the second is that reading is a recursive act, about itself as much as anything else.

    The third, freedom is not a natural state but an illusion constructed out of oppression.

    The last one: all is artifice (or perception is artifice)

    Like

    Reply
  3. Ol. Avatar
    Ol.

    Very profound… but aesthetically unappealing. I would picture this in a generic hotel room, a generic hotel room for geeks.

    Like

    Reply
    1. cliff arroyo Avatar
      cliff arroyo

      Something about the colors, proportions and brushwork seem very remiiscent of Botero (who completely blew me away the first time I saw his work). Later he (Botero) seeme to suffer from overexposure (and probably backlash though I was out of the US by then) but there was/is something animalistic and alive in his work that’s also present here.

      Like

      Reply
      1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
        bloggerclarissa

        I agree, I thought about Botero too as soon as I discovered this artist.

        Like

        Reply
    2. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      I’m a geek who loves hotel rooms. 🙂 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  4. ThreeAMeternal Avatar
    ThreeAMeternal

    Freedom not, when our love is caged.

    Like

    Reply
  5. el Avatar
    el

    Wanted to ask whether you read “The Way of All Flesh” by Samuel Butler. Just finished it, and thought there were things you would like there (patriarchal family’s criticism, narrator’s constant dry-humored remarks).

    The Way of All Flesh (1903) is a semi-autobiographical novel by Samuel Butler which naively and simplistically attacks Victorian-era hypocrisy. Written between 1873 and 1884, it traces four generations of the Pontifex family. Butler dared not publish it during his lifetime, but when it was published it was accepted as part of the general reaction against Victorianism.

    In 1998, the Modern Library ranked The Way of All Flesh twelfth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century

    Like

    Reply
  6. el Avatar
    el

    Another book is “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” by Muriel Spark. A good and short review:
    http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/11/reviews/spark-brodie.html

    Like

    Reply
  7. el Avatar
    el

    Wait, only now noticed – if the free dove flies away, it will drown / kill the dove in the cage. Not make it free, but kill. What’s up with that? It can’t be “freedom will kill slavery” since the 2nd caged dove is innocent too.

    Like

    Reply
  8. thevenerablecorvex Avatar
    thevenerablecorvex

    I would interpret the first to mean that the two birds are equal materially (i.e, they have the same amount of weight), but they are still not equal socially; one has the freedom to leave, the other is a prisoner. I suspect that it’s a commentary on the futility of attempting to reduce all Human differences to economics.

    Like

    Reply
    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      This is really brilliant.

      Like

      Reply
  9. zinemin Avatar
    zinemin

    My interpretation is: Freedom is in your head. While two people might seem the same by some measure (e.g. both have the same kind of job, seemingly the same kind of marriage, the same kind of obgliations), internally one might feel free and the other trapped. One might tell herself that she can leave anytime, the other might tell herself that she can never leave. Both will behave the same to the outside world but one will do it voluntarily and the other feeling subjected to other’s expectations.

    Like

    Reply
    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      This is a very profound reading.

      Like

      Reply
  10. Jodie Avatar
    Jodie

    Thank you for posting these; they are lovely and thought provoking.

    Like

    Reply
  11. el Avatar
    el

    What is your interpretation of the last picture? I just don’t “get” it.

    Like

    Reply
  12. el Avatar
    el

    Had another thought about the second picture: the book’s words stay the same, but each reader chooses what to see in the text and / or is capable of seeing things only in a certain light(s). Thus, each in practice reads his personal version of the book.

    Like

    Reply
  13. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I thought about Magritte. It’s about freedom for one can mean death sentence for another.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment

A conservative literary critic and college professor

Recent posts