HOLD ME (2023)Drawing by Elzem.

Turkish painting: introduction to something you might not expect!

Does painting exist in every civilization? Or perhaps there are peoples who have refrained from practicing it? This we ask ourselves, when, still unburdened with notions, we approach the history of Turkish art, particularly known for its architecture, decorative arts, calligraphy and illuminated codices, but decidedly less associated with the more typical image of the protypical French bearded painter, always intent on losing himself in capturing nature with his brush, cunningly placing his easel out in the open, or that of the impassioned Italian artist, who, steeped in the ache of living that melancholically afflicts his existence, devotes himself to immortalizing the necks of his models in a somewhat overly elongated manner. ..Trying to get beyond these stale Western clichés, it is good to make explicit how by Turkish art is meant all those works originating from the area of present-day Turkey, inclusive, both of the artistic externals by the Turks who arrived there in the Middle Ages, and those produced by the peoples of cultures that preceded them, such as the Hittites, ancient Greeks and Byzantines. In this rich context Ottoman art certainly stood out, an expression of the prosperity of the eponymous transcontinental Turkish empire, which, having existed from 1299 to 1922, displayed its stylistic features in the most popular architectural expression, to be understood as a synthesis of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influences, aimed at giving rise to the construction of vast interior spaces limited by huge domes. A decidedly Eurocentric point of view would emphasize how a marginal role was given to painting in this context, so much so that, in keeping with our Western conceptions, we could even argue that it was expressed more strongly only from the modernization of the Ottoman Empire, which, occurring from the 19th century onward, but already present to some extent in the 18th century, led to the explication of a greater influence on Turkish art of contemporary European styles. The trailblazer in this regard was surely the Turkish painter Osman Hamdi Bey, a member of the Ottoman administrative elite who trained in Paris, who first stimulated his countrymen to look to the example of Western art. The narrative, which continues up to the present day, thanks in part to the work of Turkish artists, or adopted Turks, of Artmajeur, was certainly spurred on by other decisive figures in the painting of the country in question, namely 20th-century masters of the caliber of İbrahim Çallı, Hikmet Onat, Fahrelnissa Zeid, Fikret Muallâ Saygı, Hale Asaf, Bedri Rahmi and many more...

PINK PORTRAIT B (2023)Painting by Aleksandr Ilichev.

5 Turkish Artmajeur Painters you absolutely must know!

Aleksandr Ilichev: Pink portrait M

The canvas is all occupied by the presence of an ambiguous female figure, in that the arrangement of the color in overlapping patches, each having different chromatic shades, make it difficult to understand, both the actual shade of the model's hair and the coloring of her complexion. Such an "iridescent" effect was rendered by broad brush strokes, forsi intended to generate a kind of "fat" pointillism, partly interrupted by the presence of subtle lines, probably made with the tail of the brush, intended to appear arranged here and there, as if to remind us of the inescapable presence of atmosphere. In any case, despite the studied realization of the subject, what imposes itself on the view is simply the face of a girl in the foreground, who, intent on wearing a pair of glasses, deprives the viewer of a more intimate contact with her person, remaining, in part, somewhat mysterious. The above features have now become a kind of stylistic signature of Aleksandr Ilichev (1958), a Russian painter, but Turkish by adoption, who is mainly devoted to and depicts female subjects, which he strives to realize through an instinctive creative process, aimed at quickly shaping his ideas, as well as mainly intended to capture the psychology of his characters.

IN MY HEART (2010)Painting by Hüseyin Ak.

Hüseyin Ak: In My Heart

Hüseyin Ak's painting, dominated by vivid yellow brushstrokes, where multiple characters in action find their place, turns out to be of difficult interpretation, unless, using imagination and the suggestion given to us by the title of the work itself, we try to reconstruct a kind of cinematic sequence, aimed at starting with the character, who, just as suggested by the words "In my heart," looks inside his blouse, the residence of feelings, in which he finds the memory of his beloved, i.e., the female figure that is probably also repeated in the other three women in the work. It would seem, therefore, that the lover in question spoke into the artist's ear, in order to describe, and subsequently have him paint, some memorable scenes from his life as a couple, where another character also appears, who, with a mustache and a drink, seems decidedly unrelated to the tale in question. Precisely the latter seems to attend the multiple scenes coldly, assuming the same detached attitude as the viewer, who, not always, could empathize with the texture of the amorous memories. Finally, speaking of the artist in Artmajeur, Hüseyin Ak is a contemporary Turkish painter, whose work is distinguished by the creation of oil and mixed media paintings, in which the main theme is definitely the interaction,which can take place, either between human beings, or between humans and objects, subjects however highlighted by the use of backgrounds with contrasting colors, intended to evoke a fantastic space, such as the realm of imagination.

WHEN DREAMS COME TRUE (2023)Painting by Mariia Raskin.

Mariia Raskin: When dreams come true

What happens when dreams come true?For some the dog would start talking, for others it would be possible to soar through the sky, for the more venal the wallet would suddenly explode with five-hundred-euro pieces! So, I wanted to say this to make you understand how the title of Raskin's painting would seem to allude to the advent of an era, in which, in shades of red and purple, all our yearnings would come true. In fact, referring to the painter's words, she reveals how the very work in question symbolizes, both the way in which our dreams are constructed and the process by which they become actual. It would almost seem to be understood that a miser, observing the painting, would find a glorious means or an unexpected ploy to make money, while a lonely woman, would be able, after observing its hues, to recognize the right partner to have by her side. It may seem strange to you, but there is certainly a grain of truth in all this, in that art, an undisputed instrument of conteplation, also helps us, at times, to get in touch with ourselves, promoting a healthy mechanism of introspection, which, through knowledge of our being, leads us to the achievement of our highest goals. About the artist, on the other hand, Mariia Raskin is an abstract painter based in Turkey, whose work is marked by the presence of the energy she draws from the universe, as well as the splendor of nature and the joy of living, experiences skillfully rendered by her abstract landscapes or portraits.

VENUS CONSOLING LOVE... (2022)Painting by Nusret Aktay.

Nusret Aktay: Venus Consoling Love

The subject of the work, while easily recognizable to many, is made explicit by the white lettering, which appears at the top and to the right of the support, ready to reveal to us how the little protagonist, who is wriggling out of the arms of a naked woman, is Eros, or Cupid, a mythological character who transforms the female figure in question into Aphrodite: the mother of the little winged child. Revealing other "anecdotes" about the painting is the artist himself, ready to declare how his oil painting actually represents a unique, unpublished and original remake of the more dated "Venus Consoling Love," a masterpiece dated 1751 by the well-known Rococo painter François Boucher. It follows that both paintings depict the moment when Aphrodite is about to disarm Cupid, taking from him the arrows that the chubby boy uses when shooting people to make them fall in love, a scene passively witnessed by some putti and a pair of swans. At this point, however, it is obligatory to find elements capable of differentiating the two works, identifiable in the fact that the Artmajeur artist has deliberately given his shades of pink a somewhat creamy flavor, to be joined by a greater dynamism presented by the effigies, which, decidedly less static and reverential, have taken on a touch of lively contemporaneity, in which the white lettering would seem to allude to the modern world of glossy magazines, where famous characters like Eros would surely find space.

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF ODALISQUE (2021)Painting by Yiğit Dündar.

Yiğit Dündar: A Last Temptation of Odalisque

Significance, iconicity, immortality or simply unforgettable beauty, certainly due to impeccable perfection of execution, as well as from the use of popular subjects, are some of the peculiarities often found in the greatest classics of art history, just as in Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres' The Great Odalisque, an oil on canvas that inspired not only the title but also the features of the work by the Artmajeur artist, who evidently traced the pose while making it extremely relevant today. In fact, Yiğit Dündar's painting presents details akin to the fashion of our time, taking pains to avoid reference to overly lavish surroundings and accessories in order to make explicit allusions to the more instinctive twentieth-century practice of action painting, which pours in two colors over the body of the effigy, emphasizing the curve of her body, which, created from her head, culminates at the height of her buttocks expertly dripped with sky blue and red: shades somewhere between heaven and hell. The proud serenity of the female subject in question brings us, however, to the nature of the artistic investigation of the Turkish painter, whose paintings are a visual reflection of the effect of human feelings on the body, which are certainly capable of making blatant the existing but often ignored complicity between the physical and the purely sensational spheres.