Art and Life
09.11.2024 - 13.07.2025
A Selection of Paintings of Eighteen Artists
from Evliyagil and Değirmenci Collections
While this exhibition celebrates Alaattin Aksoy, Ergin İnan, Hakan Gürsoytrak, Neşe Erdok with their remarkable works, Altan Gürman, Burhan Doğançay, Cihat Burak, Eren Eyüboğlu, Fahrelnissa Zeid, Komet, Mehmet Güleryüz, Neşet Günal, Nurullah Berg, Orhan Peker, Semiha Berksoy, Şükriye Dikmen, Ömer Uluç, Yüksel Arslan, presented with their works are not among us today.
We cannot say that we have lost these and other many artists who created Turkish Modernism and Post-Modernism in 20th century to the present, because they live on with their works and remind themselves to generations with their legacy in museums, collections, exhibitions and galleries. Does the commemoration always achieve its purpose? When seeing their works, does society question the life of the artist? How was their life, during political, economic critical periods and conditions and for what purposes they produced these paintings? Do they want to know the happy or unhappy moments, changes and turning points in the lives of these people? Should these questions be asked when looking at these works?
When looking at the political, economic and cultural history of Turkey in the 20th century, it is actually a social responsibility to know how these artists worked, how they produced their products and how they lived their lives during these periods. This responsibility is very evident in the face of the form, content and aesthetic of their works, which are increasingly valuable as an asset of today's art and culture identity.
To highlight the life of these artists the exhibition is also presenting an illustrative interpretation about their lives, explicitly their thoughts, opinions, feelings, desires, beliefs.
This is based on the words of Leonardo da Vinci Beauty perishes in life, but is immortal in art.
From the moment artists decide to become artists - a desire that perhaps emerges even at a young age - they define why they want to produce art for a lifetime. They generally say the following:
Life as an artist is a rich and magnificent life, but also a difficult and troubled life.
Artists want to have a life as a creative person.
Art gives strength during the difficult times of life.
Art is our communication with symbols that determine and define the values and ideals of life.
Art, the highest-level of visual language; it creates symbolic interaction for life.
Art is the language of Hope.
Art restores the broken bridge between the lives of people.
Art is a journey of self-discovery.
Art is a way of life processing the world, making sense of beauty and pain, and finding meaning in the midst of chaos.
Art allows to express the inexpressible and gives voice to the silence.
Art is a way of sharing the life experiences of the artist with strangers whom they never know.
Art is an offer of connection, a gift of togetherness, and a promise that they are not alone in their pain.
Art is an ongoing dynamic creation of mutual meaning. If art is something that moves the viewer, it has moved the artist too.
Beral Madra, September 2024
