THE COLOR OF TALE’S END

We came from the tales ofAnatolia.                                                                                                                           We came from green slopes of Black sea mountains, from the plateaus with pine odors in Taurus mountains, from Kaz (geese) mountains with legends of Blond girls, from cool coves of Aegean sea, from flat plains of Marmara, from sunny shores of Mediterranean, from rugged slopes of Eastern Anatolia, from Mesopotamia in Southeastern Anatolia, from steppes of Middle Anatolia to the concrete blocks.  We came from the riverside with paradise birds, from the lakes with dancing fishes, from the canyons with enchanting atmosphere, from the snow laden peaks of the mountains to concrete blocks.   We came from Anatolia with cloudy skies, from the countryside with spring smells, from Munzur Valley with extraordinary beauty, from the shores of Euphrates, Tigris, Seyhan and Ceyhan   rivers, from Ihlara valley,  from Incesu and Beş konak canyons  by the wings of the birds, with the love of the flowers,   colors of the butterflies full with emotions , we came from butterfly valleys.    We came fromAnatoliahaving tales to the concrete blocks of the cities.  We have not flower in our palms in our lives which are slaved to a promising green lawn of a small park, unlimited freedom of the cloud in the window. The tales ofAnatoliaare not recounted anymore.

Mehmet Ali Doğan is looking for those tales in his paintings and rebelling against their disappearance.  In our world dominated by capitalist system, destruction of nature and ethical values by irregular urbanization, estrangement of female phenomenon from its innocence, altruistic values crushed under concrete blocks are his sensitive art concerns of his humanistic feature.    His painting that has the self integration is not a concrete function. They are at a consistent aesthetical level beyond anonymized admiration. Complicated relations in plan images take the viewers to a consideration passing beyond superficial perception.  Joining in the triple factors of perception-moment- remembered thing are the social queries of artistic attitude of Mehmet Ali Doğan in the face of the life. Resulting paintings are the symbols of an honorable attitude for neat, clean and habitable world

It is necessary to study paintings of Mehmet Ali Doğan in the scope of “gestalt” (form) theory that is an  approach (understanding)  assessing them in the context of their form, organizational relations and structural properties of the elements constituting them because they doe not provide the viewer with concrete and easy clues. They bear the mystery of heuristic approach of the art. To understand or perceive them, sensitive approach of conscious attitude is required. Subject value takes the viewer to sociological depths finding their meaning in the psychology of the colors. There is also irony there for the disorder in the process of urbanization.  And, everyone hears and sees as he/she is able to understand as it is expressed by Goethe.  Exultation of the flowing lines which turn occasionally into surfaces is like rebellion against disorderly urbanization.  Specked spots are the conversions of human crowds living in urban life without concerns and relations within life into Picture. Quiet, plain and clean surfaces are the visual memories of lost or extinct values living only in yearning. Mehmet Ali Doğan states: “Passion for Money has doomed the human being to live in houses like coffins as it has consumed the nature”.  Consciousness is the integrity of processes enabling the man to understand himself and its environment. Mehmet Ali Doğan approaches to the art in the scope of subjective consideration and present the outputs of his awareness. They are visualized in the proximity of sincere approach. The order that is the whole of the relations and ties among the elements is formed according to a horizontal axis in the paintings of M.Ali Doğan. Direction of the forms is in horizontal while the direction of ocular pulses is in vertical. This forms concrete ties in compositions. Massive mass of the objects covering a location in the space is the volume and has no positional dimension. However, space and color fluctuations in colored surfaces of Mehmet Ali Doğan’s paintings form also the volume. Technical variability in his painting that he has made using silk screening, collage and acrylic methods forms the visual richness at a compact foundation root of which dating  back to Mondrian within the perception of art of the period.

Appearance and core (essence) are two faces of the subjective realism.  This composition is the very prominent characteristic of Mehmet Ali Doğan. He is like he appears and he appears as he is just like in the aphorism of Mevlana. He does not offend (harm) anyone even he is offended (harmed) himself just like it is expressed in the diction of Hacı Bektaşı Veli. He bears the human quality of the culture that is not degenerated   His existence is the universal positioning of the culture. His inherent depth creates depths in his paintings with relational meaning of the colors.

Living is reality of time during which the sensitive people listen sad songs. The artist is susceptible but is incapable to change and correct the world. He/she utters its opinion by his/her art. A wind blows you about while the years pass. You are unable to resist to that power and you are lost on the wings of forty one birds in the last memory. Tales ofAnatoliaare at a forlorn and forgotten corner of far away lands /climates. The artist (painter) has already taken his/her place in the virtual humanity monument. Mehmet Ali Doğan is going also toward that monument by painting his painting with the colors of ending tale

Bünyamin BALAMİR                                                                                                                                                     6 February  2013