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

 

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