Reflections in bronze: Introspective sculpture exhibit opens on Friday
!["Reflection" by Belgin Yucelen. This is one of many "reflection"-themed pieces in her upcoming exhibit.](https://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site32/2015/1019/20151019__20FTsculpture~1.jpg ""Reflection" by Belgin Yucelen. This is one of many "reflection"-themed pieces in her upcoming exhibit.")
If you go
What: “Journey of a Thousand Years” exhibit opening reception
When: 5-7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23
Where: The CACE Gallery of Fine Art on 300 Main St., Fort Morgan
More info: The artist will also give a presentation at the gallery on Nov. 6.
A Boulder artist will open her first Fort Morgan art show at the CACE Gallery of Fine Art on Friday.
Belgin Yucelen is a sculptor whose work has appeared in several galleries in Colorado, as well as Illinois, Utah and Istanbul. Her new exhibition, called “Journey of a Thousand Years,” will open at Morgan Community College’s CACE Gallery on Friday, where it will stay until November 19.
The exhibit consists of bronze sculptures and a ceiling installation piece. Many of the sculptures show human figures looking into mirrors or other reflective surfaces, like Yucelen’s favorite piece, “Reflection,” which depicts a man looking at himself in a pool of water.
The goal of the exhibit is to examine “personalities we assume, rehearsed or glorified self images,” Yucelen said.
The title comes from the idea that self-knowledge is a long, personal journey – one the sculptures invite viewers to take. Yucelen’s sculptures often embody philosophical principles, but her ambitions as an artist are simple.
“My goal is to document my emotions and my thought in art,” she said.
Like most of her art, the pieces in this exhibit are all people, but most are not the sort of people one would see on a billboard. Her sculpting style gives them rough, irregular features, but Yucelen sees a different kind of beauty in them.
“To me art is beautiful if it is simple and quiet,” she said. “I sculpt ideas without details that obscure the art’s imaginary attributes.”
She isn’t sure if she will make it to the exhibit’s official reception on Oct. 23, but Yucelen will be giving a presentation at the gallery on Nov. 6. After the exhibit closes in Fort Morgan, she will take it to the Memorial Hall Galleries in Chadron, Nebraska. In addition to the CACE Gallery, her art can be found at the Smith-Klein Gallery in Boulder.
“Journey of a Thousand Years” will be the last exhibition of the year at the CACE Gallery. The latest one, “Techno-Humanity” by painter Charles Luna, closed on Oct. 16. Next year’s season will begin in January with “Surrealism and Storytelling” by Sara Braswell.
Stephanie Alderton: 970-867-5651 ext 227, salderton@fmtimes.com or twitter.com/slalderton