Have you ever thought about why abstract painting is considered by many to be incomprehensible? Shapes we cannot make sense of, paint that drips down almost accidentally, intertwining of different colors, different textures, and thick layers of paint that feels almost three-dimensional.

So how we can appreciate abstract art? The answer is, you must enter the painting and see where it takes you. There is no right or wrong interpretation in abstract art. Instead of trying to understand what the shapes in the painting look like, we should let our eyes wander all over the painting without expectations.

I thought that prejudices against abstract painting often come from the difficulty in interpreting them, most of the visual content we consume often has a precise meaning and conveys a message to the target audience. However, abstract painting is open to interpretation and does not contain clear messages. Abstract art engages with our emotions and provides a different visual experience to the audience.

A few years ago, I’ve met with the artist Efe Sembol, and recently I had a chance to interview him. During our conversation, one of the things that made me think deeper was the artist's opposition to the verbal expression of abstract painting. 

I’ve thought that the art and the artist are always concerned about conveying a message, which is the opposite from Sembol’s approach to abstract painting. He addresses abstract painting as a form of visual experience. His approach changed my way of observing abstract art.

In his paintings, Efe Sembol uses the elements of nature that we are familiar with and offers us a passage to take a stroll into unconscious natures, which we are unfamiliar with. His paintings are almost a portal, a door opening to unconsciousness. 

## Archetypes and the collective unconsciousness

In his paintings, Sembol places the collective unconsciousness and archetypes in a prominent position. So, what are these two concepts all about?

We can see the archetypes as ancient behavioral patterns that occurred in different cultures early on. Jung claims that the deepest unconscious mind (collective unconscious) of humanity is inherited and expressed through archetypes. For instance, stories from different religions and mythological characters from different ancient cultures are almost the same. Even though all these cultures had common stories, characters, and symbols, they didn’t have much physical connection back then.

Therefore, Jung suggests that archetypes constitute the core structures of the collective unconscious of humanity. He draws attention to the fact that archetypes are universal therefore they evoke similar emotions in every human being. 

According to artist, in the modern world, the way of thinking falls apart from all the things Jung claimed. We lost connection with our collective mind; we are not familiar with all these patterns anymore. Sembol believes that deep down we still feel something when we see them. The artist wants to remind us about this in an abstract way.

!["I see myself as a transparent intermediary".jpg](https://strapi.sevilay.me/uploads/I_see_myself_as_a_transparent_intermediary_692666e88f.jpg)

## "I see myself as a transparent intermediary"

Sembol brings the unconscious elements and archetypes to a perceptual dimension, in a way that the audience can grasp better. Sembol describes this nature as a secondary nature rather than a perceptual nature.  He adds: "Unconscious nature is the place where all the truth, the reality and the real process of how our thoughts are without a filter of language.’’
 
The artist highlights the method he uses to make the abstractions in his paintings.  He says that he puts himself in a position of an intermediary and indicates that he paints in a pensive moment without any prior idea. He continuous: “I am an intermediary between two worlds, conscious and unconscious. I don’t have any prior idea of what I will paint, I just try to catch some elements from an unconscious nature and bring them to the perceptual dimension.’’

The artist conveys that he especially wants to stay away from ideas and thoughts during the creation of his paintings. He says: “We can always get somewhere with our thoughts and ideas or we might think that we have reached somewhere. Our thoughts can jump from one idea to another, our ideas can change sizes and shapes, but in fact, we can’t leave from our center, we can only spin where we already are.”

## “Paintings make themselves by using the artist as a medium!"

Sembol points out that archetypes and symbols are the expressions of primitiveness and the first examples of the human subconscious which is suppressed in the modern world. The artist makes reference to techniques of the surrealist painters, he says “Surrealists were using the automatism technique to obtain textures. With this method, they draw sketches in the dark with the charcoal drawing technique. They used this technique to bring unconscious symbols to the surface of their paintings. According to Jung, these symbols and archetypes that the surrealists wanted to bring into their paintings were the perceptions and comprehension forms that existed even before consciousness, in this sense archetypes are also interpreted as thoughts of God.”

Sembol says that the first examples of archetypes are cave paintings. These symbols drawn on the cave walls are in a place that modern people have forgotten and cannot relocate in their lives anymore. Artist reveals the motivation behind his paintings as follows: "I try to bring archetypes to the surface in my paintings. These symbols are the symbols that remind people of their own primitiveness and evoke the essence of humanity”

The artist points out that “While abstract painters sails in the unconscious world, in order to objectify irrational elements that appear accidentally in their paintings, painters should not try to find a meaning of these unconscious elements, instead they should paint them how it comes naturally.” Sembol, also adds “instead of rationalizing the unconscious elements that artists bring to the surface of their paintings, if they support irrational nature of these elements then these elements will reveal themselves, therefore paintings make themselves by using the artist as a medium.”

## Mental body reflected in artist's color palette

The artist emphasizes the dark colors of deep natures. He uses dark colors to express the intensity of emotions.
"I use bold transitions. Dark browns, aged whites, texture effects, and black backgrounds ..."

Sembol says that what he tries to reveal spontaneously in his paintings is the mental body. We can perceive the mental body as the existence of our thoughts. When it comes to our thoughts, there are shapes of our thoughts before the verbal expression. These bodies can be seen as energy or abstract being.  

 He describes the mental body by referencing the concept of the noumenon in Kantian philosophy which means, the real essence behind the image of the object. Sembol manifests the darkness in his paintings as follows: "The spirit of the depth is open to whom can see the nobility of darkness."

"If you are looking at the abstract artwork and trying to decode it, you are making a mistake."
Sembol indicates that there is nothing the viewer needs to decode, especially in his paintings. But he still thinks that many others might not agree on that. The artist says if the audience comes to the exhibition and asks what this artist tries to tell us with his artwork, his response would be: “If I wanted to say something, I would publish a book or write an article and put it here.’’ 

He underlines that his artwork is open to intuition and association therefore whoever comes to his exhibitions should only come to feel and experience his artwork. “I can say that my paintings are passages which open a door for communications between the people and their subconsciousness.’’

![Shaman's dream.jpg](https://strapi.sevilay.me/uploads/Shaman_s_dream_10e5dd6ef4.jpg)

## Shaman's dream

In this painting, the artist gives reference to God as the scene illustrates, on the body’s head there is a halo that symbolizes God. Sembol directs attention to symbols depicted inside the body. These symbols are tamga’s (signs-stamps) which belong to the belief of Tengrism. The artist explains how the relations and communication between these symbols are established spontaneously in his paintings.

“Imagine entering a child's play circle, inside that circle, you become independent of external reality. I play with these symbols as a child plays with his/her toys in his/her playground. It is necessary to know how to play with the symbols in order to achieve that. I have to step out from the context of reality by eliminating myself from the external reality. Therefore, I can play with the symbols and depict them by adapting to the specific "reality" within the game circle.’’

![Fauna et flora.jpg](https://strapi.sevilay.me/uploads/Fauna_et_flora_e9804eefaa.jpg)

## Fauna et flora
In this painting, the artist points out that just like nature has its own fauna, the thoughts that people have in their spiritual natures can also be considered as fauna. The artist says that elements of this fauna cannot be perceived with the five senses, intuition is a key point to perceive the paintings of the artist.

Sembol uses the automatism technique in order to bring abstract elements to his paintings. The artist reveals the creation process of this painting as follows: “I draw in the dark with the charcoal drawing technique in order to paint some textures on the canvas then I leave it to sit for a while, after that when I see the canvas again, I try to see what feelings these textures evoke in me after that I keep painting until the paintings take their final shape.''

Sembol summarizes: “In this painting, my intention was, being able to build the communication and harmony between the mental bodies. The pleasure of harmony and aesthetics, which is emerging between mental bodies are very different from the pleasure that can be experienced in any painting that is normally considered to be beautiful or ugly. Another intention of this painting was, enabling the audience to find their own existence in the painting, let them take a step into the painting and enjoy the authentic aesthetics of this place.”

Abstract painting with light brown on the top left corner going to dark brown and on the bottom right corner there is splash of white texture

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Interview with the Efe Sembol: Stepping into the painting to comprehend abstract art

Antalya's Kaş district has many ancient cities like all costs of Antalya. What fascinated me the most in Kaş was the landscapes of Lycian and Roman ancient city settlements.

![Go for sightseeing in the center of Kaş.jpg](https://strapi.sevilay.me/uploads/Go_for_sightseeing_in_the_center_of_Kas_38c8b6bf66.jpg)

## Go for sightseeing in the center of Kaş

The best way to catch the rhythm and spirit of a city is to walk. While walking in the streets of Kaş you are going to feel surrounded by great history, nearby the busy streets and stores you are going to see the different sarcophagus tomb structures inherited from the Lycian empire, the structures that are survived from the Lycian civilization is mostly tombs.

![Explore the Viewpoints in Kaş.jpg](https://strapi.sevilay.me/uploads/Explore_the_Viewpoints_in_Kas_95e047bc26.jpg)

## Explore the Viewpoints in Kaş

As I told you that, the best way of exploring a city is to walk. Sometimes, getting lost before reaching a planned destination makes your journey more enjoyable. The sweet fear and excitement of the unknown… isn't it such an experience that what’s called adventure? Getting lost in the middle of nowhere and keep walking between oak trees and wild mountain thymes and reaching to this viewpoint. 

It felt like we discovered this place for the first time and there was no one in history who looked at this view before us. Before we came to this viewpoint, our planned destination was Liman Ağzı beach. 

If you want to reach this viewpoint, you will walk on a stony road for a while, in small bushes and thorns, I suggest you to wear good shoes and pants if it’s possible. To reach this viewpoint write on your Google map Liman Ağzı beach and follow the path that the map takes you. You will see a crossroad one is going down and the other one goes up. Probably the road going upwards leads you to this beach, but we chose the road going downwards and we kept walking. Finally, you will see the Meis (Kastelloriza) island. It’s a bit challenging but totally worth it!

![My second favorite viewpoint .jpg](https://strapi.sevilay.me/uploads/My_second_favorite_viewpoint_a25532e5e9.jpg)

My second favorite viewpoint is a hill that can be walked through the bushes after climbing the top steps of the Phellos ancient theater, this hill offers a 360-degree viewpoint. If you take the Çukurbağ Peninsula in front of you, on the right side of the view you will see Kaş's marina and on the left side, you will see the Kaş's Harbor.

![Enjoy World coffees in the Linckia Roastery Cafe shop.jpeg](https://strapi.sevilay.me/uploads/Enjoy_World_coffees_in_the_Linckia_Roastery_Cafe_shop_d96de2e4a1.jpeg)

## Enjoy the world coffees in the Linckia Roastery Cafe Shop

This wonderful coffee shop runs by a Chinese coffee expert. The coffee shop has lots of different country coffees. Barista can help you to choose which country's coffees best for your taste. Light, medium, or bitter.

I wanted to give it a try for a stronger coffee, barista’s recommendation for me was Costa Rican or Ethiopian coffee. I preferred Costa Rican with the cold brew method and the taste was great. I highly recommend this place for coffee lovers and occasional coffee drinkers. 
 
![Discover the turquoise color beaches of Kaş .jpg](https://strapi.sevilay.me/uploads/Discover_the_turquoise_color_beaches_of_Kas_3cf70378ae.jpg)

## Discover the turquoise color beaches of Kaş 

Kaş is a frequent destination for many local and foreign tourists, especially in the summer season. The city is quite crowded in the months of June-July-August. I recommend visiting Kaş in the low season, September or May, even though we went in the last week of September, the beaches and the town were still quite crowded.

![İnceboğaz Beach .jpg](https://strapi.sevilay.me/uploads/Incebogaz_Beach_94aaf963ff.jpg)

### İnceboğaz Beach 

This beach is located in the narrowest part of the Çukurbağ peninsula, there are beaches on both sides of this place, we preferred entering the sea on the side that faces with marina. On this beach, unfortunately, you cannot lay your own towel down, all over the beach occupied with sunbeds. You have to rent a sunbed, one sunbed and an umbrella cost 30 Turkish lira. The sea was incredibly clean in here.

### Hidayet Bay

Before going to this bay, I did some research on the internet, and I did not know that bay was taken over a business, now the name of the bay is Blanca Beach club. If you want to rent a sunbed it costs 50 Turkish lira and an umbrella is 20 Turkish lira. If you want to swim in this bay without renting a sunbed, you can put your towel down on the rocks and enjoy the bay. 

The sea is again incredibly beautiful, I think the clarity of the sea water in Kaş is great, no matter which beach or bay you swim in. In this bay people were coming to do scuba diving in here, I also dived with my goggles, it was amazing. On the shores, there are many small fishes.

### Kaputaş Beach

Kaputaş beach is located below the cliffs before going down to the beach you can take lots of photos with this beautiful view. This beach is quite popular and perhaps one of the beaches that comes to everyone's mind when the destination is Kaş. 

On this beach, the sea deepens quickly and when the sea is wavy swimming in here may require a little more effort than normal. This beach is owned by the municipality so you can also use showers, changing cabins, and toilets for free. 

If you want to rent sunbeds and umbrellas its costs 10 Turkish lira the price is quite affordable, and if you don’t want to sit on the sunbeds you can also lay your towel in the empty areas. Various drinks and food options are also available at the beach restaurant.

![Visit ancient cities and historical places- Patara.jpg](https://strapi.sevilay.me/uploads/Visit_ancient_cities_and_historical_places_Patara_b226a3dbaa.jpg)

## Visit ancient cities and historical places 

### Patara

The ancient city of Patara was the capital of the Lycia civilization. After the tour of the ancient city, you will see Patara beach. This beach is famous for its sand dunes. The sand dunes are also a home for the sea turtles. Baby turtles meet the sea for the first time in here. You can watch the sunset from the dunes as we did. The day we were at the seaside it was so windy so, watch out the sands. Before leaving the Patara, don’t forget to buy handmade seashell necklaces and bracelets that will remind you of this journey.

An interesting fact about Patara: Patara Parliament Building, known as the world’s oldest democratic parliament building in human history 

![Myra.jpg](https://strapi.sevilay.me/uploads/Myra_1a4e277750.jpg)

### Myra

Myra is located in Demre district of Antalya, 45 km away from Kaş, if your destination for going back home is on the way to Antalya this is another ancient city where you can stop by, I told you that Lycian civilization's artistic understanding is most striking on the tomb structures, well in this city The most magnificent structures that survived by now is one of a kind rock tombs. I highly recommend you to stop by this ancient city to see this interesting historical place.

![Saint Nicolas Church.jpg](https://strapi.sevilay.me/uploads/Saint_Nicolas_Church_1406b163f0.jpg)

### Saint Nicholas Church

Saint Nicholas church is known as a stop where pilgrims visited on their way to Jerusalem. Saint Nicolas is a very important figure for the Orthodox Christian World therefore 6th of December is celebrated as Saint Nicholas Day in the countries where the majority of Orthodox people live such as Russia and Greece. Saint Nicolas, also known as Santa Claus, according to stories he gives gifts to children who behave well. 

Outside of this church, there was a statue of Saint Nicholas portrayed with many children around him this represents him as a protector of the children. The church was the oldest-looking church I have ever seen. Scenes on the frescoes have mostly pictured the miracles of Saint Nicholas. You might see some papers with a list of names fell down on the floor. In Orthodox belief, people write the names of their loved ones on a piece of paper, and during their visit to the church, they put the papers between the stones of the wall and wish a good life for loved ones.

![Join the boat trip.jpg](https://strapi.sevilay.me/uploads/Join_the_boat_trip_9a080a80a2.jpg)

## Join the boat trip

### Kekova sunken city

There are many tour boats in Kaş’s harbor you can get information about the prices and the routes to decide which boat you want to join a tour with. There are also different options some boats can be rented daily for groups. We chose the Simena boat The Captain and his family run the boat. The price of the tour was 150 TL per person and lunch was included, for the lunch, they served chicken barbecue with types of delicious meze’s (meze type of Turkish tapas) and salads, the food was amazing. 

There are many different wonderful bays on the route of the boat tour. We visited Akvaryum bay, İnönü bay, Tersane Bay, Kekova sunken city, Kaleköy or in another name Simena. My favorite bay was İnönü bay which is located between two small hills and when you reach there is a kind of a small beach with sands on the floor. Another interesting stop is Sunken city on the island of Kekova, which contains the remainings of the Lycian civilization and the Eastern Rome civilization.

The Captain gives brief information about the history of this place. Half of this island was buried underwater due to earthquakes early on, excavations for these islands never started, this is the reason why visitors cannot swim around the islands.

### Kaleköy

Another important stop on the boat tour was Kaleköy, after reaching the village you can follow the pathway to the left to reach the shore where you can swim. Also, you can rent a canoe and take a ride on the shores of this village. The boat gives one-hour break here, unfortunately, There is not enough time to explore the whole village. 

Smells of the sage plants were all over this village. While walking to the castle even on the sides of the stairs there were sage plants, you need a museum card for entering the castle. The locals here mostly make a living by selling products to tourists. They sell handmade necklaces, dresses, and natural sage plants that they picked themself.

Interview with the Efe Sembol: Stepping into the painting to comprehend abstract art

7 things to do in Kaş