BEREN ZENGİN

Background:

I was born in Ankara, Turkey, in 1973. I did graduate from Yükseliş College then Gazi University International Economy Department. After school, I moved to İstanbul and started to work as a financial analyst in bank and I continued my career more than 10 years in different banks. After long experience, I decided to leave the bank and work as financial consultant for my clients.
Totally having more than 20 years financial experience, I considered changing my career in a very different pathway. Actually, I can say, it is not a huge difference in fundamental level, as it is again a kind of consultancy. So, I began my new career in 2014 as a life coach. And since 2019, I mostly finalise my financial consultancy career and fully concentrate myself on coaching. Learning is a lifestyle for me and by improving my understanding I can share this knowledge with my clients. I am now having my neuroscience certificate program in Harvard academy.
Learning and transferring information to others is highly related to my art style as well.

My Art:

My art view was shaped by my all-financial and coaching career experiences. Even though fundamentally my business life was based on consultancy, diversifications of these different business types improved my awareness. This gave me a chance to share my knowledge to others by coaching. In my sessions, I do the act of listening and the act of hearing in the moment with love, joy and compassion without any judgmement. My client is the star in my sessions and I loved to be there for them. Besides coaching, painting gave me another wonderful chance. While I am painting I am the star. I am there for myself. I do the act of listening and hearing and painting for myself at the moment by love, joy and compassion without any judgement. So, I can harmonise my deep understanding and my creation energy by my paintings where I can pass my highest potential energy to others as an inspiration. This is my art.

Let’s dive into a little bit deeper and deeper..
Seperation and oneness or wholeness are the fundamentals of our evolutional journey. We are all separated from each other as we are individuals serving for whole, and at the same time we are whole and complete, serving for individuals. Therefore, a person is whole and complete as one and separated as an individual. So, what I create is from oneness for the benefit of the individuals and at the same time from individual to whole for the benefit of oneness. This is the deepness of my paintings.

How am I transferring this understanding to my paintings..Let me give a very simple example..

Let’s consider three different painters and we gently ask them to draw a straight line for us. Whatever the technics are, these straight lines can be looked like same. However, they will be completely different from each other because of painters’ different magnetic fields. Every person has their own vibration according to their feelings, their attitudes, their experiences and their life perspectives at that moment. Then, what makes us to choose which line we most like? Now, we will need another magnetic field which is ours. The key point here is; how the painter’s vibration effect on us and how we perceive that according to our attitude.
OR is it possible to be vice versa????

In physics, there are two kinds of wave types constructive and destructive. When two waves combine, either one of them destroy the other or they combine and construct a bigger.
Therefore, if we need to choose one painter’s line, we either choose the constructive energy according to our attitude which matches with the painter’s at that moment or destructive one. Both are necessary for our lives. Destructive effect means; Becoming free from the things which are not serving for us anymore. When the expiry date comes, we need to separate because the longer we hold, the longer it may become harder, we need a destructive energy to move on for separation. Constructive effect means; we need to add some healthy things, relationships, connections or start new beginnings or new projects in our lives.

So, the question is: Are all the paintings have constructive or destructive effect?
No, sometimes it can be both. Or sometimes it can be a time to have a rest and stop. Or time to feel more love, respect, harmony, and peace…Depends what you need at that moment.
Consequently, from my point of view paintings are not only what you see it is also what you receive, as an attitude, as a feeling, as an inspiration or as an energy. You can think what the painter is trying to tell us but in fundamental level that is not only the painter is trying to pass some kind of message, it is also depending on your awareness. This marvellous exchange between you and the painter serves oneness and separation as well.

Why I started painting?

I always want to make abstract paintings and I was not sure when and where to start.
After, I got a courage (as a constructive effect from someone) I decided to take an action. Once I join this world, I was like a little girl with wide open eyes and mounth trying to learn everything with curiosity. That is really amazing.

I am not forcing myself to create a style. Like every person in the world, I am unique as well, and whatever I do will be my style. But of course I am more enjoying making specific technics and I am trying to do them with my taste. That is the difference for every painter as well.

The most enjoyable thing while I am painting is, I feel like, there is only me, my board and my paints in the world at that time and I cannot understand the time passing while I am in that creation world. Time is collapsing for me.

Each time I feel excitement for starting new composition and I feel very curious to see how will it be…And that is really amazing as well.

What are my technics?

I am using acrylic paints and doing fluid acrylic technics. I prefer to work on plywood Manufle which is prepared specifically for me where I demand sizes mostly 70x70, 60x120, 60x180,100x50,60x80…
I am doing abstract compositions with fluid acrylic technics. These technics need specific products to mix with paint and specific concentrations according to the compositions. Some technics is done by thick concentrations or thinner or medium. And sometimes I use base colour at the bottom and make the composition on it or no base colour. In fluid art, there is a little risk that sometimes you cannot reach what you have in your mind, as it is liquid not easy to control, even though you think you can do it. That is another joy for me because when I cannot do what I have in my mind sometimes it becomes better than what I plan. Ah of course it occurs opposite as well, that is a little bit disappointing but that is ok because it improves my creativity. And sometimes better not to force and start again.
These paintings are all unique because I cannot do the same ones again. Even though I use the same technic same colour combinations it will not be same as the one I did before.
As I mentioned above, for each painting my attitude, my creation and my feeling will not be same, the vibration will not pass to client as the one before.

I try to make prominent my compositions by using specific colours like metallics especially gold and silver and primary colours mostly blue and red.
I love to see the harmony of blue combinations which feels me like they are dancing with the flow sometimes enjoyable like salsa, cha cha, sometimes so slowly with the rhythm and sometimes passionate like tango.
When the blue is on the stage it adds a real value to the paintings for me.
I also love to use red and green tones. Red is another colour make me feel passionate as well. Green on the other hand feels me the colour of healing.
As you know colours are reflection of light when they hit to objects and every colour has their own frequencies that is also combines with mine which contributes my creativity.

After finishing the painting, I love to use resin on it. That is one of the reasons why I prefer wooden boards. Resin gave a glass and gloss effect and makes painting look like alive. But of course, I also use gloss varnish for some of my paintings as well.

Which Topics I mostly prefer?

I deeply in love with space. Photos from Hubble are one of my sources, but I don’t like to copy it, I just have inspirations from there. The other topics are Quantum physics, parallel universes, reflections, and neuroscience. I also admire human body especially cells. The more I learn about neurons the more my admiration is getting higher.
Our being was not created only by body itself. We have also a mind and a soul like three types of water; vapor as a soul, liquid as a mind and ice as a body. They are all water and we cannot separate them. And the evolution is for the water, so the three types are the levels of the evolution. Consequently, all my topics’ fundamental level is evolution.

What am I learning by painting? How it contributes to my life?

It will be very classic answer, but I don’t have any other definition; it makes me happy, and I am enjoying. As I explained above the time is collapsing for me, I don’t feel the hours passing.
From another point, happiness is not a target for me, it is the way to the target. The target is the result and beginning of another journey. Painting improves my learning, my enthusiasm, my determination, and self-trust. This also gives me a chance to express my creativity freely without any limitation. It is like a key opening to a new world, learn from there and reflect this learning to my reality.

Let me share a short list what I am learning from painting:
Patience, very important…
Letting myself to flow with the flow which means I cannot control everything every time sometimes I let the things go their own way and feel comfortable about that.
Learning from mistakes, mistakes are experiences so they are valuable, and I can transform mistakes to opportunities,
Never give up,
what is coming from the hearth is very valuable, respect and accept it
Trust
Healthy self-judgement
Creativity potential
Harmony
Balance
Love and compassion…..and so on…..

What are my targets?

In short term I would love to make my own exhibition and in long term I would like to create more and able to pass my highest potential energy to others. I want to make bespoke painting for the individuals.