SADI CALIK "LIVING IN ORDER TO CREATE SCULPTURE WHERE THERE IS NONE" |
Interview: ESI Magazine, 1956
ON THE SYNTHESIS OF SCULPTURE AND ARCHITECTURE
Interview with
ESI Magazine.
In January we talked with Sadi Calik on the occasion of the opening of his joint exhibition with Nuri Iyem:
ESI: What is the new understanding of sculpture?
Sadi Calik: Previously painting and sculpture were thought of as being adjuncts to architecture. Today both painting and sculpture are thought of as integral parts of architecture, so painting is no longer just canvas and sculpture is no longer merely ornamental.
Abstract art has evolved from objective form into a more refined state. It is striving to come to terms with its potential. This is a requirement of the 20th century.
ESI: What kind of aesthetic is produced by the inclusion of pictures and sculpture in architecture?
Sadi Calik: It can be said to produce what people are in need of today. When we look at a city we expect to see an architectural form of some kind. Human beings live within such forms. Perhaps in sleep or when we look at a clear sky, we are freed from the restriction of form, otherwise we are always bound within it.
ESI: What are your ideas on affective deformation?
Sadi Calik: As life changes, so the needs of art change also. These changes oppose familiar form and produce new forms created by the artist from which a new school in art is born. The artist who lives in accordance with the times is the true artist. For example, in my opinion, it would be absurd for an artist to copy the art of the 16th and 17th centuries. However, an artist who finds himself living in 1956 has to answer to the revolutionary needs of the contemporary understanding of art.
ESI: What do you think about the kind of questions arising from this, such as "should the artist coform with the times or try to be avant-garde"?
Sadi Calik: The job of an artist is not to take art forward but to discover what is contemporary. What seems ridiculous in art today may be the reason why it is sought after in fifty years time. The history of art is full of such examples. At one time Impressionistic artists were heartily despised. Today we say how wonderful the works of these masters are.
ESI: In your works, what is the understanding of the asthetic?
Sadi Calik: The members of Group Espas have this asthetic. In their opinion the idea the synthesis between painting, sculpture and architecture is something new. However, at present there is no possibility of putting this into practice.