A Sexy Art Show

A sexy art show in the sense that it pushed beyond the boundaries of Middle Eastern Art. Topcuoglu's photographs are universal and timeless, his models may be contemporary Turkish girls but they transcend our region and this makes for a talented artist.


How can 50 people convene at pre-art opening dinner and not attend the show itself the next day? I ran to Green Art Gallery with trepidation to discover Nazif Topcuoglu's photographs.


In anticipation, I had invited many friends to accompany me. I was confident, without having seen the photos of this collection yet, that it would be a "hot show". A must see, even for the least interested in art, because his photography is always provocative and the esthetics superior, so it draws the attention of a wider audience. But no one caught on to my "bait": Dubai is full of professional, familial and social distractions.


Nazif Topcuolglu's works are recognizable thematically: school girls. His photographs are signed by the distinct structure that he builds to perfection. If the girls are in a group, their suddenly immobilized movements are theatrical, their connection close, their story mysterious.


His models live in interiors of bricks, books, and carpets. Furniture, antiques, textiles are used as props to develop the intimacy of their actions. They are whispering, experimenting, sharing, talking, quarreling, giggling, conspiring.
They either wear their school uniforms or  negliges, as thin and transparent as that of Primavera by Boticelli.


Please remove the erotic out of these photographs in the same way Nudes are simply beautiful. These girls are clothed,
carefree, Nabokov protagonists. Their sensuality is that of nymphs, like statuettes in gardens, like Boticelli's Venus drifting in a shell.


The story remains the same: females in suggestive poses, naughty by nature,  by their own accord, in an experimental way, where taboos are absent. Female camaraderie, something that stands between boarding school atmosphere and harem like behavior.


The impact of Nazif Topcuolglu's photography on our Dubai audience is strong: "conversation-art" for sure.


A must see!