In the Shadow of Bullying,

Consolation, and Compensation Rise

Marcus Graf

Today’s world is engulfed in overwhelming chaos, where its entropic nature appears to have mutated Darwin’s law of “sur- vival of the fittest” into a brutal doctrine of “dominance of the strongest, the cruelest, and the most ruthless.” In an era where rowdies, violent forces, and oppressive entities exert

the highest forms of control over sensitive souls, composed personalities, and rational minds, we must ask: what is the current value of kindness, un- derstanding, and empathy? What role do compensation and consolation play in shaping humanist individuality and fostering a healthy, democratic society? In this context, the notion of compensation extends beyond mere reparation for loss, imbalance, or deficiency; it signifies a transformation from anger and revenge to the reclamation of strength and the affirmation of abilities. It is a proactive response, striving to restore what has been dis- rupted in personal, professional, or political realms. On the other hand, the concept of consolation offers something subtler yet equally powerful—it is an emotional balm that soothes sorrow, grief, or disappointment. It is not merely comfort but a profound form of empathy that provides solace in moments of distress, especially when words alone fail.

Compensation and Consolation

The principles of compensation and consolation are desperately needed in times of crisis, yet they often seem increasingly rare or difficult to find and implement. However, even in the darkest moments, hope persists as an unwavering light that can never be extinguished. Art, science, and education have long served as beacons guiding us through turbulent storms, standing resilient against the winds of adversity. Doğu Özgün’s latest solo exhibition, Apotheke (German for Pharmacy), at Ferda Art Platform, explores the intertwined notions of consolation and compensation in the face of bullying and domination that pervade both private and public life. His artistic practice emerges from a deep yearning for justice, with Özgün reflecting on his relentless and ongoing struggle has manifested as a constant, simmering anger. In an interview for this exhibition, the artist admitted that resisting bullying could have led him to become a bully himself. Nevertheless, his search for paths of com- pensation and his willingness to embrace consolation through knowledge were deeply influenced by Germany’s post-World War II transformation. The country’s profound social, cultural, and political shifts inspired him to release his anger, helping him to better understand both himself and the broader state of the world.

For Özgün, the essence of the exhibition is encapsulated in the phrase “Compensation and consolation are greater than bullying.” He formulated this statement during a stay in Berlin, where he recognized that despite the brutality, destruction, and tyranny of Germany’s fascist past, it was only through a process of personal and collective compensation—paired with the acceptance of consolation—that a healthy renewal and democratic reconstruction were made possible in post-war Germany. Özgün extends this historical reflection to contemporary global conflicts and universal crises, including wars, forced migrations, genocides, and ecological disasters. He concludes that taking responsibility and playing an active role in fostering positive change necessitates embracing compensation and consolation as vital catalysts for both personal growth and collective healing.

Any meaningful social transformation depends on a combination of revolutions and cultural as well as artistic evolutions. For Özgün, art em- bodies ideological, sociological, and economic resistance, possessing an inherently disruptive power against any system of oppression. While art is a means of rooting oneself in the world and perceiving reality from alter- native perspectives, it simultaneously offers the ability to step back from society, from individuals, and from the manipulative mechanisms of reward and punishment to allow for the creation of ideas that challenge existing structures to trigger change. In the end, art reduces, trivializes, and chal- lenges the pressures imposed by oppressive systems—without resorting to their restrictive tools.

Apotheke

Apotheke presents a selection of fifteen paintings, organized into various thematic groups. The title refers to the German word for pharmacy, which Doğu Özgün interprets as a place of healing. In this context, the Apotheke exhibition can be seen as a space where viewers may seek their own forms of

relief and restoration. Inspired by the Kolumba Museum in Cologne, Özgün created the paintings Stranger and Tyranny. During his visit to this extraordi- nary building, he was struck by the architect’s “compassion” for destruction. In a world where anything broken, worn out, or damaged is quickly devalued and discarded, he observed that the pursuit of perfection and supreme ef- ficiency systematically marginalizes everything outside the mainstream and the centers of power—including the elderly, women, and even animals. For Özgün, the Kolumba Museum is a place built with empathy for the past and for the other—an institution where destruction is not erased but acknowl- edged as part of existence. It does not attempt to endure indefinitely but rather seeks to ensure continuity through protection and unity.

Due to the long, narrow canvas format of Stranger, the depicted wom- an resembles a massive stone sculpture. Özgün rendered reliefs across the figure’s surface, interpreting them as contemporary echoes of the ruins found in the Kolumba Museum and the intricate carvings on the cathedral walls. The imagery on her body refers to soldiers and captives, evoking the solemn icons of Christ inside the cathedral. Through this work, Özgün seeks to reflect the effects of war and despotism—the lingering fear and grief imprinted on the mind of a migrant. The figure appears caught between a painful longing for the past and an acceptance of the need to escape from what she once sought.

On her legs, a scripture from the Bible, written in graffiti style, reads: “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing, some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2). This verse underscores the necessity of remaining open-minded, extending kind- ness to the unknown, and embracing new human connections without fear or prejudice. It emphasizes the importance of being open-minded and doing good for those who are unknown to us. Additionally, it underlines the value of embracing new interpersonal relationships without fear or prejudice.

The image of a young woman dressed in modern clothing starkly con- trasts with the gray, block-like composition of her body. She appears to be made of large stone pieces, loosely assembled so that their edges and meeting points extend beyond each other’s limits. This fragmented struc- ture gives her a broken and unstable appearance. The relief-like carvings on her dress evoke motifs from ancient times and foreign cultures. Portions of her right leg and upper shoulder appear eroded, either by the passage of time or due to past iconoclastic acts. The modern figure bears the scars and remnants of a violent history, where pain and destruction have served as forces of transformation. Though seemingly carved from stone, she is on the verge of collapse. Her legs are marked with graffiti, linking her presence to contemporary urban life, where young people inscribe their existence onto the anonymous concrete jungle of the metropolis through street art and public inscriptions.

The protagonist seems unaware of her condition. She does not face the viewer, making any form of direct communication impossible. We see only her back and the back of her head, tilted forward as if she is absorbed in something unseen. Perhaps she is looking at her phone, retrieving something from her bag, or simply staring at the ground in front of her. Her true actions remain ambiguous. Her eyes, concealed behind fashionable sunglasses, of- fer no insight into her gaze or intentions. This lack of clarity imbues her with a universal quality—she becomes a symbol of modern humanity, a monu- ment to contemporary society that stands on the ruins of the past in an at- tempt to remain strong. And yet, she is still a stranger—fractured and distant.

The background provides a striking contrast within the composition. The warm tones shift between a soft orange and a gentle violet, directly opposing the opaque grays of the woman. The ground she stands on, as well as the space behind her, is infused with colors reminiscent of pop art, kitsch, and commercial advertising. Yet, her surroundings do not reference any specific location, rendering the background both spatially and temporally undefined. This absence of context aligns perfectly with the aesthetic and conceptual nature of the figure as an anonymous monument to displace- ment, lost in an unfamiliar environment.

Doğu Özgün neither adheres to artistic styles nor aligns himself with any particular école or art movement. Nevertheless, his admiration for the history of German and Northern European painting and sculpture is evident in his use of figuration and the narrative character of his works, which often carry moral, ethical, or critical dimensions. However, Özgün considers the concept of style itself as absurd. He has cultivated an artistic language that is intentionally difficult to categorize, avoiding the risk of imitation. For him, genres and styles possess a performative nature—they are dynamic, fluid, and in a constant state of transformation. His fragmented approach to painterly figuration establishes connections to both realism and surrealism, yet without succumbing to didacticism or polemics. His works reject realism’s inclination toward prescriptive narratives and ideological instruction. Likewise, they do not indulge in Surrealism’s escapism into the subconscious, with its utopian claim of unveiling the hidden truths of the human psyche. Instead, Özgün’s work poses fundamental existential ques- tions, critically engaging with history’s inconsistencies and the fabrications of contemporary storytelling.

The painting Tyranny reflects a similar artistic approach. This time, however, the figure faces the viewer, yet their identity remains obscured beneath architectural stone elements reminiscent of classical antiquity. Half monument, half female figure, the subject possesses arms but no legs, a torso but no head. She is incapable of movement, speech, or sight— rendered mute, immobilized, and unable to function as an orator or a definitive representation of authority. Letters cover the stone surface like a fragmented puzzle of words and meanings. Language, the fundamental system by which we comprehend reality, is rendered useless here. Instead of forming a cohesive, rational structure, it lies shattered into incoherent fragments. Against the backdrop of a luminous, star-filled night sky, the tyrant has lost her dominion. The sculptural references embedded in the work no longer serve as grandiose symbols of power but stand as hollow remnants—monuments of a forgotten civilization, lost in a world that has succumbed to meaninglessness.

Even in Apotheke, where Özgün’s paintings lean toward representation and concreteness, as seen in his portrait series The Irrecuperabile Ones, the works retain their ambiguity and enigmatic nature. In this series, the artist narrates the story of three young women who confront an unsettling truth with composed, almost serene smiles. They have agreed to take responsi- bility for the destruction they caused. Rather than crying or complaining, the women accept accountability and look forward.

Özgün deliberately chose female protagonists, as he perceives them to be at a greater disadvantage within a male-dominated society. He be- lieves that men are quick to anger, easily upset, and prone to fury, whereas women, in his view, possess a greater capacity to find both compensation and consolation within themselves.

The paintings are characterized by semi-monochrome, head-and- shoulders portraits of young women who smile toward an unknown event or figure outside the frame. Their faces are painted in a draft- like manner, with light brushstrokes and thin layers of paint. Each background in the series consists of a monochrome color field. These flat, painterly surfaces, devoid of prominent texture or gesture, create a striking contrast with the dim, delicately rendered faces in the foreground. As in Stranger and Tyran- ny, the background is both spatially and temporally undefined, reinforcing an overwhelming sense of loss and displacement. The history and personal narratives of the protagonists remain shrouded in mystery—their identities are unknowable. Layered atop the portraits are additional painterly ele- ments, including images of young women in uniform, groups of people huddled under umbrellas, and pairs of artistic ice skaters. This multilayered composition creates an eclectic, pluralistic, and heterogeneous aesthetic. The interplay of these visual fragments reflects the fractured, holistic nature of contemporary reality, where multiple narratives and dimensions coexist simultaneously.

Doğu Özgün has developed an innovative approach to portrait paint- ing, liberating it from its traditional function of representation. Instead of capturing a specific individual with a fixed story, his works become platforms for open-ended interpretation. They invite the viewer to project their own experiences and emotions onto the canvas, allowing for a deeply personal engagement with the artwork.

A similar strategy is evident in Dr. Waiting and Bluto, where Özgün merges diverse objects and symbols into a single composition, opening multiple avenues for interpretation. The artist subverts a familiar pop culture reference, exposing that the real source of Popeye’s miraculous strength is not spinach but the industrial might of the West, symbolized by its ability to mass-produce canned goods. The painting reveals that so-called “barbaric,” “primitive,” or “rough” strength is ultimately subdued by the power of industrial production.

In Bluto, the rough beard eventually grows weary of losing and finally agrees to eat the canned spinach. This spinach, rather than merely enhancing his strength, shaves him clean. Now, with a smooth face, fashionable glasses, and a branded Gap T-shirt, Bluto is transformed—ready to attract Olive Oyl’s attention as a modern, Westernized man. In this context, spinach emerges as a symbol of compensation for the self he has lost, a metaphor for the compromises and transformations imposed by cultural assimilation and industrial consumerism.

Doğu Özgün’s Dr. Waiting serves as a portrait of a woman exhausted from waiting. Her frustration is visually expressed through the steam rising from the teapot balanced on her head and escaping through her nose, symbolizing both suppressed anger and the slow passage of time. The painting reflects the struggle of someone enduring decay and deterioration while holding on despite the challenges. Ultimately, the work suggests that patience and time bring healing. For Özgün, the woman seeks consolation not in immediate action but in the quiet endurance of time itself. Another compelling series within Apotheke is what Özgün refers to as his chess series, a group of paintings that explore different ways of coping with the experience of loss. The series examines how emotions such as worry, fear, anxiety, and dread distort one’s perception of reality. Özgün arranges hu- man figures on a chessboard, positioning them like chess pieces. Though they are all in contact with one another, none appears to have a clear strategy or direction.

In Worries, Three Odd Fellows and Reckless Driver, Özgün depicts fig- ures in childhood or early youth, seemingly engaged in a game. However, their body language and expressions are stiff and frozen, as if time itself has stopped. Immobilized, they stand as if imprisoned within their own existence, unable to act, move, or break free from the moment.

A recurring motif in these three paintings is the chessboard itself. For Özgün, chess is a game that demands principles, strategic thinking, and a definite goal. A player must maintain focus and discipline to stay in the match. In general, games are built upon structured rules that ensure con- tinuity, role distribution, mutual enjoyment, and competition. However, Özgün emphasizes that in chess, emotions—such as the thrill of competition, the joy of play, or even the determination to win—are subdued and redirect- ed toward the strict logic of strategy. Emotional impulses lose their function, as loyalty to the plan becomes paramount. Like a well-aligned train, all the pieces are meant to function harmoniously within a structured system.

However, in Özgün’s paintings, nothing follows a regular or logical order. The chessboard, rather than serving as a site of structured play, becomes a space of uncertainty and disorder. Sense and meaning, two fundamental components of the game, dissolve into ambiguity. Fundamental concepts essential to playing chess like strategy, order, and calculated movement lose their significance in Özgün’s work, as the roles of the figures remain shrouded in mystery. Once again, his fragmented approach to picto- rial narration prevents a straightforward or immediate interpretation of the paintings. Instead, the spectator is invited to assemble the scattered pieces, constructing their own game of perception and reality—one that transcends conventional modes of knowledge production and information exchange.

According to Özgün, the children depicted in his chess series are open to sacrifice, cooperation, and shared effort to keep the game going. Howev- er, they remain detached from the necessary strategic thinking required to win. They are unable to grasp the rationality needed for true collaboration. In this way, Özgün presents them as trapped within a cycle of relentless competition—one that is self- centered and ultimately directionless. The paintings suggest that the protagonists are so focused on sustaining the game and achieving victory that they lose sight of the very actions required to succeed. Within the Apotheke exhibition, the child emerges as a symbolic figure—an amateur player standing at the threshold of crucial decisions and defining moments that will shape their understanding of the world.

Fragmentation plays a crucial role in Özgün’s mosaic-like painting se- ries, where he focuses on certain mythological heroes who endure heavy costs for their heroic acts and tragic sacrifices. For the artist, this “price” represents not just suffering but an acceptance of reality, marking the be- ginning of consolation. In these works, mythological heroes appear delayed, elusive, and struggling to come to terms with the consequences of their actions. Their narratives are neither grandiose nor glorified; instead, they reveal a deep uncertainty about fate and responsibility.

Aesthetically, the compositions remain perpetually incomplete—the fragmented nature of the images resists total cohesion. Due to their pluralis- tic and heterogeneous references, these works weave together historical and contemporary visual languages, creating a layered and holistic experience.

Özgün seamlessly fuses formal elements from mosaics, Turkish tradi- tional art, and ceramic techniques with contemporary references, such as graffiti, industrial materials, and architectural structures. The result is an artistic language that refuses singular interpretation, instead embracing multiplicity and contradiction.

Özgün does not merely alter the form of mythological stories—he reconfigures their content as well. In Theseus and Minotaur, he reimagines the encounter between Theseus, the hero, and the Minotaur, the monstrous captive of the labyrinth. Rather than portraying their meeting as a violent confrontation, Özgün transforms it into the first encounter of a love story.

For Özgün, Theseus and the Minotaur is a pivotal work within Apotheke, as it directly engages with the theme of justice. He argues that when justice is viewed through the lens of grief, the discussion naturally shifts toward the relationship between consolation and social realities such as economy, law, education, and healthcare. The artist suggests that when someone who has been wronged is entirely consumed by a desire for revenge, nothing can be as fulfilling—nor as restorative—as consolation itself, which, in such cases, functions as a form of justice.

Untitled I draws inspiration from the ancient Greek myth of Iphigenia. The story begins with King Agamemnon, who, on the eve of a military cam- paign, kills a deer sacred to Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. In response, Artemis sends a storm, preventing his fleet from setting sail. She offers only one condition to restore the weather: Agamemnon must sacrifice his daugh- ter, Iphigenia, to appease her. The painting explores the notion of “paying a price,” a central theme in most mythological narratives. Özgün highlights the inescapable link between mistakes and consequences —both demand payment. However, he differentiates between two types of payment: those made willingly, which can lead to liberation, and those that are delayed, which eventually manifest as a curse.

Rather than depicting a deer freely running through the forest, the painting presents a fractured scene where missing pieces and mismatched elements disrupt any sense of coherence. No single part perfectly aligns with another; each fragment closely resembles its adjacent counterpart but never fully integrates. This visual rupture functions as an artistic metaphor for compensation. The overall composition suggests that while it is impos- sible to undo past tragedies, a form of restitution— however imperfect—re- mains within reach.

Beyond his engagement with aesthetics, concepts, and modes of repre- sentation, Özgün also interrogates the conventional ways in which paintings are displayed within an exhibition space. In response, he has developed ex- perimental presentation methods that challenge the traditional placement of paintings on walls. He introduces a sculptural perspective to his canvases, physically removing them from the static confines of the gallery wall and integrating them into three- dimensional space.

For instance, in Stranger and Tyranny, Özgün mounts the canvases onto freight carts, positioning them in direct opposition to one another. This arrangement reinforces the fluidity and interchangeable nature of their themes, suggesting that victimhood and oppression are not fixed states but shifting roles in the broader socio-political landscape.

Within the exhibition space, the three portraits from The Irreparable Ones Series are arranged to resemble a security camera system. Özgün envisions these paintings as a perfectly functioning surveillance network—an ev- er-watchful, omnipresent force that monitors the gallery environment with an unsettling detachment. Thanks to their training, these figures maintain ab- solute control, remaining unaffected by emotions, fears, or personal losses.

The artist deliberately portrays them as cold-blooded figures, devoid of the need for compensation, consolation, or even physical connection.

Apotheke offers exhibition visitors a compelling opportunity to im- merse themselves in the multilayered work of Doğu Özgün. His extraor- dinary engagement with diverse aesthetics and conceptual approaches imbues his oeuvre with depth and significance. His paintings transcend the conventional boundaries of figurative and representative painting, embracing an exciting interplay of aesthetic pluralism, formal eclecticism, and intellectual holism. The multilayered nature of his work mirrors the entropic state of reality, capturing the essence of the ever-changing flux of life. Without resorting to polemics or didacticism, Özgün’s work offers a critical reflection on our contemporary world.

His aesthetic openness invites spectators to bring their own life expe- riences into the work, fostering a deeply personal and interpretive engage- ment. Additionally, his innovative formal strategies challenge traditional artistic categories. By integrating sculptural elements into certain pieces, he expands the conventional limits of painting, enhancing both its visual impact and conceptual reach. Through this approach, Özgün redefines the scope of painting as a medium, actively contributing to its ongoing evolution.

Ultimately, Apotheke foregrounds the fundamental role of compensa- tion and consolation in shaping both individual and collective well-being. Doğu Özgün’s unwavering belief in finding light amid darkness and his resistance to tyranny resonate powerfully throughout his work.
The bully can only win if we allow ourselves to be patronized, frightened, and manipulated. Bullies tend to prey on those who are weak, passive, and silent. So, let us be strong, active, and loud!