Arzu Komili: What is a painting?

What is a painting? That is the question. The question first asked by Abstract Expressionists such as Rothko, de Kooning, and Pollock in mid-twentieth century America. And the question asked today, in the new millennium, by Arzu Komili, a senior in the Visual Arts Program at Princeton University. Arzu’s collection of paintings is unveiled today at 185 Nassau Street, exhibited throughout the week in the building’s entryway and inner room. They’re three-dimensional and explosive; they challenge the inherent qualities of painting such as form (flatness) and content (theme). 

Arzu explains: For my thesis show, I am undertaking a project that is much grander than my past aspirations, as I wish, not only to comment on the history of painting, but also of its presentation.

The talent illustrated by Arzu in her artwork mimics innovative artists of the past with similar ambitions.

Using both rooms in Lucas gallery, I plan to play them off against each other with the presentation of their contents. A duality will be established between "where" the paintings are located in both rooms.

Check it out. Lewis Center for the Arts, 185 Nassau Street, April 22^nd – 26^th. 10 am – 4:30 pm.

Second photo taken by Ed Greenblat, courtesy of Lewis Center for the Arts' website: from http://www.princeton.edu/arts/events/archive/paintings-arzu/