When we see a face in a painting, what are we looking for? Are we trying to understand the subject? Are we looking to see a part of ourselves in them? How does that change when elements are obscured, when faces blend together, eyes are hidden, or multiple eyes are placed next to each other? That’s at the front of my mind when exploring Muslum Teke’s East London exhibition.
These paintings sit between the figurative and abstract, with faces and eyes placed across the canvas, and gestural slashes of paint slicing across it. It obscures the identity of the faces, as who they are is less important than the emotions that they are channelling. It brings to mind the Expressionist paintings of Edvard Munch, as well as the emotive works of Kathe Kollwitz and Francis Bacon.
I am particularly drawn to the works where two or three eyes are painted together, as if they have been stacked upon each other. They vary in colour, and it’s not clear to me whether they are all human or if animal eyes have crept into these works. While we would never see a person with multiples arranged this way, this distortion never feels disturbing, more like an exploration of how we view eyes and our association with them.
We’re hard-wired to trust someone when we can look them in the eyes, and they are often referred to as the gateway to the soul. We are being watched from all sides in this exhibition. Are they there to ensure we behave well, or to watch over us for protection? Given the artist’s Turkish heritage, we think of the talisman often worn in Turkey to protect people from the ‘evil-eye’ of jealousy or those who may wish us ill.
The question is, without the face that goes along with them, what can we determine from these eyes? Do they offer us some insight into the person they belonged to, or just as an animal’s eye can reflect the headlights of a car, do we see a reflection of ourselves within them?
In his larger works, we see the often chaotic blend of multiple faces and eyes that ask us to search through them for the elements we are drawn to, while his smaller works often feature a single face that makes it a more intimate viewing experience to focus in on one character, even if it’s somewhat distorted within his signature style of painting.
In a busy city like London, we’re surrounded by faces, on the streets, on public transport and through our screens. Yet how often do we stop to focus on them and understand the emotions and thoughts they are expressing? In Muslim Teke’s exhibition, we can take that time to understand the multitude within each work and reflect upon the complexities we all carry within ourselves.
Muslum Teke: In-between spaces, curated by Ilayda Uzunarslan, at Versus Arts, E5 0QR, 7-14 March.
