Professor Babek Kurbanov,
The Moment Turned into a Statue
The History of Sculpture has recorded the names of great artists like, Miron, Praksitel, Poliklet, Michaelangelo, Rodin, Konenkov, Muhina, Vucetic and İlhan Koman , to the History of World Civilization in gold-plated letters.They all were able to enrich the Art of Sculpture depending on new artistic and aesthetic principles and by using expression and design tools all of which were in favour with the philosophic and aesthetic ideals of their times.Their achieving an eternal seat in the Hall of Art History was directly related with how they brought the humanitarian ideals and universal moral- ethical values into light and with their authentic art , expressed these with ultimate professional and artistic skills. In fact, since the art of sculpture has less means of artistic expression, artists encounter some difficulties in reflecting the reality. At first, the quality of the material to be used (stone, marble, bronze, wood, plaster), evaluating the material in an appropriate way, conveying an essence of spirit to these solid materials and adapting them to the ideal subject and composition of the work, play an important role during the period of creation. As might be expected, considering the past artistic values and principles important, in addition, showing respect to the predecessors, having the talent of benefiting from these in a productive way should not be ignored.Problems, like the position of the statue in the exhibition hall, the size, the quality of the material, the colour, and sometimes their artistic syntheses are always the problems that artists confront and wait to be solved. All these description and expression tools actually are of great value in expressing a world of ideals at a frozen moment.E. Falkonye, a famous sculptor, was completely right by expressing that a statue was a word uttered once.One of the German art theoreticians of the Classical Era, Lessing, expressed this idea more clearly in his work "Laokoon".
We are of the opinion that it is possible to state that all these principles related with creativity mentioned above may also be characterized with the art of Mustafa Balat in Modern Turkish Art of Sculpture who stands as a prominent figure with his creative style, aesthetic principles and point of view in art.For instance, at first glance, the images which resemble like abstract figures, in fact are closely connected with the aesthetic principles coming from a rather long history of Art of Sculpture. The philosophical generalization, symbolizm, statisticality, detailed labour on the material like the talent of a jeweller, strong associative comparisons, the sense of eternity which belong to the art of Mustafa Bulat, draw him close to the artistic aesthetic principles of the ancient artistic works, especially of the Anatolian, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greek Sculpture.This similarity may clearly be noticed in Bulat's works if his "Bekleyiş", and " Hesaplaşma" are compared with "Khonso's Bust" (Cairo Museum), and "Hera of Samos" (Louvre Museum). However, it would not be right to regard Bulat's creativity as an archaic art , depending just on the traditional principles and subjects.Besides all stated above,the works of the artist possess quite a contemporary appearance.This, in the first hand is directly connected with how contemporary the aesthetic principles and the ideal subjects the artist select are.Thus, these subjects express the greatness, universality, eternity, magnificence of human individuality in our times.It is not a coincidence that human faces among many of Mustafa Bulat's statues and the lines that they hold are not reflected in a detailed way as they are among the realistic works, yet they are reflected more like silhouettes and in a style which can not be perceived at first glance.Perhaps, with a style like this, the artist strives to express a more generalized and universal image and a symbolic form rather than a reflection of a real person.
The words of one of the world-wide famous pianists of XX.century, S. Richter, come to minds when we think of the aesthetic perception of Mustafa Bulat's works:"Our ears perceive rapidly and easily what we are accustomed to, what we are acquainted with and what we have listened many times before. I know that whenever I listen to a new work, I always feel that there stands a resistance within myself. Without overcoming this resistance it is not possible to improve the musical ear and musical sensation".
Naturally, it is of great importance to have the ability to exclude ourselves a bit from the circle of former aesthetic values and to overcome our "inner-resistance" during the perception of the contemporary works of art, including statues.Recently, aestheticians have started worrying on similar ideas like these.This tendency can be found out in Dabney Townsend's work "Introduction to Aesthetics". For instance, we may be inclined to identify pop art and performance arts as contemporary art.However, this will remain among the theses mentioned before.If we believe that art stands beyond what the word of art claims aesthetic, this also may be a subject of dispute. For instance, it requires rather a long time to accept many popular forms as art. Shakespear's plays were popular in his time. Today, they all are considered as art.Perhaps cinema and rock'n roll will share the same fate. This could only be judged in the light of a theory.Arguments like these, in either way, assume that our theoretical language has the capability of describing and perceiving, concerning how we name things as aesthetic.
A professional and artistic education is required in order to aesthetically perceive Mustafa Bulat's works.As a matter of fact,generally contemporary works of art, including sculpture works based on abstract art principles, have distinct aesthetic principles other than the ones of the former periods.All are suited to human emotions and excitements compared to the art monuments created in distant past. In this aspect, contemporary modern movements, including abstract art of sculpture in a way stands closer to the instrumental music (symphony, concerto, sonata, plays), actually to the world of emotions and excitements, it creates. Particularly, it is possible to observe this among the small sized lyrically characterized "miniature" works. For instance, ("Yansıma" Pic-1), ("Geçiş" Pic-2), ("Hesaplaşma" Pic-3), etc. The artist is aware of the fact that the materials he uses have unlimited potential-aesthetic features in manifesting the essential ideals and artistic properties, thus deals with the aesthetic qualities of the materials (colour, flexibility, toughness, reflectivity) in a fastidious way.Herein, the artist also benefits from the syntheses of these materials (granite, bronze,marble, aluminium, onix) productively.
One of the prominent characteristics of the artist's creativity is his desire to create monumental works. This may easily be observed essentially in his works of abstract style. Among these works, talent for labour, in other words , his craftsmanship in carving which is substantially important for a sculptor is proved in particular.With just one word, the artist avails the material suitable for his artistic desires. It is possible to observe this among the works of the artist based on carving techniques.
Mustafa Bulat, as an artist, on the way to perfection in his art, strives to improve his artistic qualities.This is always noticeable in his interest in fresh artistic-depiction tools and subjects.
Bulat played a crucial role in institutionalizing the art of sculpture, and in providing contemporary art education by the establishment of the Department of Arts with his efforts.
Bulat always shares his knowledge and experience with his students. The cultural activities of his students and participation of our university in these events in an active way are pleasing proofs to this. Mustafa Bulat's individual contributions to Palandoken Snow Statue Competition which is held every year with the participation of our students, the seminars where the sculptors of our country and neighbour countries meet, International Stone Statue Symposium, laying the foundation for the establishment of the first open-air museum within the university campus are clearly noticeable.
This year, within the 50th annual celebration of our university activities, we had the great opportunity to welcome the authentic artistic style and aesthetic principles among the recent works of this talented artist in the Mustafa Bulat 1+1 Individual Statue Exhibition which was held on 11-17 June 2007. We strongly believe that we will witness his creative successes in the future.
RESOURCES:
1 – BALLER E.A; Sosialnıy Progress i Kulturuoye naslediye, Moskova, 1987
2 – KULİKOVA İ; Antiiskusstvo i burjuaznaya deystvitelnost, Moskova, 1978
3 - Sanat Ansiklopedisi, Cilt II, VII. Fasikül, İstanbul, 1983, s.720
4 – TOWNSEND, Dabney, Estetiğe Giriş, İstanbul, 2002, s.98
5 – V.İ. Tolstıx, Esteticeskoye, vospitaniye, moskova, 1972, s. 88,- 89
15 Eylül 2008 Pazartesi
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