Cem Mumcu's works create an existential questioning that is squeezed between the repressed emotions in the inner world of a person and the limits imposed by social structures
Cem Mumcu's solo exhibition "Inhibition/Exhibition" (Çile Bülbülüm Çile) will meet the audience at Beyoğlu Municipality İstiklal Art Gallery, curated by Derya Yücel, between March 1 - April 3. Cem Mumcu treats the two fundamental and contradictory aspects of human nature, repression and expression, as a visual metaphor. The artist tells a story about the courage to express oneself on both a personal and social level. The title of the exhibition, "Inhibition/Exhibition" (Çile Bülbülüm Çile), strikingly expresses this duality while offering the audience a powerful area of confrontation.
The works of poet, writer, psychiatrist and painter Cem Mumcu, who point to the struggle for liberation of creativity through the tension between inhibition and exhibition, create an existential questioning that is squeezed between the repressed emotions in the inner world of man and the limits imposed by social structures. The artist questions the coexistence of these faces, both repressed and exhibited, and their relationships with each other with figurative abstractions, metaphors and texts.
According to Derya Yücel, the curator of the exhibition, which opens up space to the questions "Are the aspects we repress really invisible? Are the faces we exhibit a reflection of reality or an illusion?", "Cem Mumcu examines the complex and dual nature of human nature on a ground where individual vulnerabilities and social boundaries are intertwined. The individual, who oscillates between inhibition and exhibition, is in constant search of a balance between these two opposite extremes. This tension between the need to protect his inner world and the desire to express himself on a social level constitutes the focal point of the exhibition."
The spatial structure of the exhibition supports the inner depth and multi-layered meanings of Cem Mumcu's works. Spreading across the space with the emotional connotations of colors, structuring the plastic language of the paintings using the guidance of words, it invites the visitor to an experience created by the combination of verbal and visual arts.
According to Cem Mumcu, "art is the expression of repressed or forced to be repressed emotions, thoughts and desire for liberation by building a bridge between the norms and limitations imposed by society and the internal conflicts of the individual."
Mumcu's works are shaped by the visualization of words, feelings and meanings in an expressive manner. "Inhibition/Exhibition" (Çile Bülbülüm Çile) represents the area where the individual meets art in his efforts to express himself, on the one hand, the pressure to conform/adapt to norms, and on the other hand, the tension line extending from the search for individual freedom to a brave expression.
Source: https://t24.com.tr/haber/cem-mumcu-nun-yeni-sergisi-inhibition-exhibition-acliyor-kisisel-ve-kolektif-ozgurlesme-surecine-dair-derin-bir-yuzlesme,1213057