The decorated world 2018

Editor: Soltan Soltanlı's "The Decorated World," created in 2018 using acrylic paint, presents a serene yet peculiar landscape. I find the whimsical tent-like structures and the solitary figure both comforting and slightly unsettling. What do you see in this piece? Curator: The "tent" structures immediately draw my eye. They appear almost like pavilions, drawing on a historical fascination with temporary architecture, spaces of ritual, leisure, or even defense. Notice how Soltanlı tops them with stylized foliage. Doesn't this combination—fabric and plant—evoke the ephemeral nature of life and beauty, a memento mori translated into landscape? Editor: That's interesting! I hadn’t considered that symbolism. So, the "decorated world" is perhaps about how we construct fleeting refuges for ourselves? Curator: Precisely! Consider, too, the lone figure. What does her relaxed posture and unadorned dress communicate within these decorated shelters? Does it suggest contemplation? Retreat? Are the different colors of the tents representing varied emotional states or personal histories, almost like individual dreamscapes within a collective experience? Editor: The differing tent colors hadn't struck me as symbolic before, but thinking about them as different emotional states makes the scene much more complex. There’s an underlying sense of introspection that I completely missed at first glance. Curator: These symbolic spaces, at once constructed and natural, allow us to reflect upon our place within the world and question the boundaries between artificiality and nature. Symbols invite inquiry, urging us to decipher meaning. Editor: It's amazing how much can be hidden within such a seemingly simple landscape! It has certainly altered how I interpret the image – thank you for pointing that out.