PAINTING THE WORDS

In her series “Painting the Words”, Rengin Saltık uses typography to experiment at the intersection of painting with literature. She tries to establish a conceptual relationship between meaning and form, by painting well known latin aphorisms and quotations from the books which have impressed her deeply in some way or another throughout the years; shaping her images by the texts written on large canvases. Through its form or color, each painting conveys a certain aspect of the book, symbolizing either its meaning or its feeling. The image dominates and traps in the text; and the text reads out its meaning from within; the image becomes the illustration for the text or becomes a visual text itself.

Each painting retells a story of its own, rather different from the one next to it, in content, meaning, type, style or form, like the books on the shelves of a bookcase. And the viewer is invited to step in and explore this visual library…

The series consists of 38 paintings.

200813 / “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order “ / Quotations from Chapters 6, 8 and 9 / Samuel P. Huntington, 1997 / Oil painting on canvas / 120 x150 / 2008 / Private Collection

200901 / “Brave New World” / Quotation from Section 1, “ Brave New World” / Aldous Huxley, 1932 / oil painting on canvas / 120 x 150 cm / 2009

200904 / “The Power of Kabbalah“ / Quotation from the Appendix / Yehuda Berg, 2001 / Oil painting on canvas / 120 x150 cm / 2009 / Private Collection

200903 / “Epic Poem of National Forces“ / Quotations from ‘The Opening’ and Section 8 / Nazım Hikmet, 1941 / Oil painting on canvas / 120 x150 cm / 2009 / Private Collection

200905 / “Nineteen Eighty-Four“ / Quotations from Sections I and III / George Orwell, 1949 / Oil painting on canvas / 120 x150 cm / 2009

200907 / “Memed, My Hawk“ / Quotation from Volume I, Chapter 7 / Yaşar Kemal, 1955 / Oil painting on canvas / 120 x150 cm / 2009

201002 / “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” / Quotation from Part 3.3, “Of Involuntary Bliss” / Friedrich Nietzsche, 1885 / oil painting on canvas / 120 x 150 cm / 2010

201003 / “Utopia” / Quotations from Book I, Chapter 1,4 and Book II, Chapters 1,2,3,5,6,8 / Thomas More, 1516 / Oil painting on canvas / 120 x150 cm / 2010

201004 / “Toward A Psychology of Being “ / Quotations from Part V ‘Values’ / Chapter ‘Psychological Data and Human Values’ / Abraham Maslow, 1962 / Oil painting on canvas / 120 x150 cm / 2010 / Private Collection

201005 / “Veinte Poemas de Amor y una Cancion Desesperada” / Chapter “Veinte Poemas de Amor” / Poema XX “Puedo Escribir los Versos mas Tristes Esta Noche” / Pablo Neruda, 1924 / Oil painting on canvas / 120 x150 cm / 2010 / Private Collection

201009 / “Liar’s Poker“ / Quotations from Chapter 4 ‘Adult Education’ / Michael Lewis, 1989 / Oil painting on canvas / 150 x120 cm / 2010

201013 / “The Prince“ / Quotations from Chapters 6, 8, 17 and 22 / Niccolo Machiavelli, 1505 / Oil painting on canvas / 150 x120 cm / 2010

201010 / “The Alchemist“ / Quotations from the Introduction / Paulo Coelho, 1988 / Oil painting on canvas / 150 x120 cm / 2010