SEVİL DOLMACI ART GALLERY HOSTS PAINTER ROBERT JANITZ'S FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION "LABYRINTH" IN ISTANBUL
German painter Robert Janitz will meet art lovers at Sevil Dolmacı Art Gallery on November 11th with his solo exhibition "Labyrinth" consisting of works created in Istanbul. The artist was the first international guest of the Sevil Dolmacı Art Residency, which was launched in the summer of 2021. And she created her works here.
Taking its name from one of the most popular stories of Ancient Greece, the Minotaur and the labyrinth where he lived, the exhibition is Robert Janitz's first solo exhibition in Turkey. According to the legend, the Minotaur, a half-human, half-bull that feeds on human food, is locked in a labyrinth on the island of Crete due to its dangerous nature. The hero Theseus, who finally puts an end to the terror of this monster, is able to find his way through the labyrinth thanks to the ball of yarn given to him by his lover Ariadne.
Labyrinth also summarizes Janitz's observations in Istanbul over the course of a month. From the traffic of the city to the ships drifting in the Bosphorus, the lines that we no longer recognize but are embedded in our lives, as well as the lines that form our historical identity, have inspired Janitz in this process. The works that emerged during the residency hold an important place in the artist's career as a result of the transformation process that started with "Volcano Head Paintings" in Mexico.
Robert Janitz describes his experiences and feelings during his 1 month in Istanbul as follows: "I grew up with ropes and weaving, my mother was a weaver and my father liked to collect "oriental" rugs. I have had colored ropes in my brain since childhood. They say that the interlocking lines on a loom are the source of information processing. So here we are, the brush mark, the line of calculating facts and Turkish, a language I don't speak but somehow understand. I wandered around the city for a few days. I realized that Suleiman the Magnificent's tughra was a word woven in calligraphy. I discovered 'word-portraits' in Topkapi Palace and discovered the Turkish knot in rug making. I started to connect the lines on canvas. Then I locked myself in my painting studio. I had seen enough of the labyrinth to know that I was the Minotaur and Ariadne at the same time. I forgot how time passed. I forgot myself. A new series emerged. The volcano paintings I painted in Mexico became the lines of time. The large letters lined up side by side became a mute handwriting. And to my surprise, after weeks of painting, I discovered that the lines, painted over time, therefore had a life of their own. In fact, they were hollow, like the Italian pasta called rigatoni."
