没有眼睛的画家：伊斯里夫•阿马甘 （视频）
Esref Armagan is a very unusual Turkish painter. His artwork has been exhibited in Turkey and abroad. Hanging in his apartment in Turkey is a framed thank you letter from Bill Clinton, an old American president, because Esref had painted his portrait.
Above is Bill Clinton's portrait by Esref
Esref is a blind painter, born without eyes. He has never been able to see nor understand colors as normal people do. He has never been able to see sunset a flowering meadow in the Spring.
Specialists that have met him have been confused by Esref's capacities. "He moves and represents space easily, his details are precise and full of visible information (color variation, shadows, light and shade effects, light reflection, contrasts and perspective)."
A painting by Esref
His 'eyes' are his hands. When he paints, he puts the colors, which are lined up in a specific order on the table, directly onto paper. To work on a picture, he needs absolute quiet. He needs to feel that he is "inside" his painting - in fact, when he is drawing a picture of the sea, he wonders if he should wear a life jacket so as not to drown!
In the video above, scientists from Harvard University discover that Esref can see, in his mind, that objects that are farther away from him appear smaller, even though he has never seen anything in his entire life.
The man himself, Esref Armagan
阿马甘儿时家贫，从未受过正式的学校教育。不过，他小时候就喜欢用铅笔在纸上涂鸦，十八岁时，他开始用手指蘸着油漆在纸上或帆布上作画，现在，他更爱用速干的油彩绘画。阿马甘画画时要使用一个特制的橡胶板，协助他用指尖感受他所画的每一笔线条；他一只手握着铅笔，另一只手则在画布上摸索铅笔画过的线条，第二只手就像是他的“眼睛”一样。
阿马甘作画时需要绝对的宁静氛围，让自己完全沉浸、融入到图画中。他说，当他画大海的图画时，他总是怀疑自己是否应该穿救生衣，以免“溺死”在自己想像的汪洋中。
Another painting by Esref
