2018
Ceramic
25x25x25 cm
Güneştekin’s polychrome, sometimes grotesque or surreal ceramic works take the form of fish, urns, human skulls, and horns, and are reminiscent of the story of Dhul Qarnayn and other myths and fables. The series carries the general title Dhul Qarnayn, which is referred to as "he of the two horns" in the Quran. The series carries the general title of Dhul Qarnayn. There are conflicting accounts of who this legendary Yemeni king was (some believe he was Alexander the Great), but in the Quran, he is referred to as "he of the two horns", sanctioned by Allah to build a Wall between mankind and Gog and Magog, man-eating giants from the Turkistan region who embodied chaos. According to most versions of Islam’s description of the Apocalypse, if Gog and Magog breached the wall, it would bring about the end of the world followed by the Resurrection, once God destroyed them. Dhul Qarnayn has many other legends attributed to him, but in Güneştekin’s hands we have the classic guardian king figure empowered to save the world from destruction. He has rendered the idea of him in a series of grotesquely beautiful ceramic urns containing ornate skulls and horns that radiate from and through the walls of the urns, as if he is a Medusa figure.