Caroline Haller
Art Curator
Upon first glance Belgin Sağlam’s contextual paintings are simple and aesthetically pleasing canvases with recognizable objects. However, their darker and deeper implications pierce the empathetic heart. Sağlam grapples with the heaviest topics of humanity, such as the Coronavirus pandemic, abortion, or environmental pollution.
In this way, Sağlam’s paintings raise awareness to these events and problems.
Against sharp horizon lines, which create vast and unending landscapes, the viewer is confronted with their own role in the events. Some of the paintings take place in a city apartment setting or against recognizable landscapes such as the Bosphorus bridge in Istanbul. However, many of the canvases feature a barren terrain.
In these luminous canvases, Sağlam’s technical precision and creative imagination are evident.
Working on a primed canvas, Sağlam adds tiers of thin layers of paint to achieve a smooth, velvety finish to the painting. Sağlam typically utilizes primary colors with a focus on red and blue. Initially her artwork included these primary colors at high saturation, however over time her focus has shifted to calmer, less saturated colors.
A signature element to her paintings involves patches of paint in tonal shifts of the same primary color, to create atmosphere, light and shadow, in the landscapes.
Sağlam creates surrealist environments with pale backgrounds and creamy washes of lowly saturated color. Highlighted by more saturated colors, are the vestiges left behind by the humans who once occupied the space.
Objects of everyday use, i.e. telephones, dishes, and clothes are rendered with precise line and detail. Sağlam uses these visual metaphors to bridge the gap between art and life, hoping to cultivate a deeper understanding of human realities in the consciousness of humanity.
Sağlam analyzes global problems and subjects and heavily researches the social aspects of the subjects she depicts. Throughout her artwork, there are several recurring motifs. For instance, many of her canvases contain a bright white circle in the sky. This motif: a planet, the moon or the sun, adds an element of spirituality to the canvas. Elements used by the people who have vacated the scene, are often on the ground, as if they have been tossed aside. Sağlam places an emphasis on the influence of technology in society.
Finally, mirrors and mirrored surfaces are utilized with Sağlam’s work which reflect the viewers humanity onto the canvas. For instance, In Plastic Surgery Addiction if you were to reach out and grasp the coffee mug, you too would be poised in front of the mirror.
The visual metaphors and titles of Sağlam’s paintings imply the meaning within the paintings. These metaphors analyze and critique human behavior, calling on humanity to change their predilections. Sağlam hopes to contribute to humanity with her profound paintings which are both intimate and detached, both familiar and foreign.