Selçuk Yaşar Art Gallery and Museum hosts the

Selçuk Yaşar Art Gallery and Museum hosts the painting exhibition by
Aydın Ayan, an eminent name in the Turkish contemporary painting
between 08 – 30 April.
He started painting by drawing pictures of lambs when he was going to elementary
school in a forest village in the Black Sea Region, emulating first his peers who were
good at painting, and then the great masters in the history of art. Totally unaware of
the academy concept, he kept painting in an Eastern Mediterranean town where the
facilities were, at best, limited. He got into İstanbul State Academy of Fine Arts in
1972. In his senior year, he had his debut exhibition at a prestigious gallery of the
time that hosted the exhibitions of professionals and his works attracted a great deal
of attention. At a tempo that remained unchanged since then, the artist keeps
working and producing...
Back when Aydın Ayan decided to be a professional painter, painting was not
regarded a bright calling, but it was a matter of choice. Ayan chose the difficult thing
to do and never regretted it. The 1970s was characterized by a very few number of
galleries and books on plastic arts, and only three educational institutions in the arts.
At present, there are hundreds of art galleries and nearly thirty Fine Art Faculties
across Turkey.
His works can be seen in many public and private collections such as the Grand
National Assembly of Turkey and every one of the museums in Turkey, as well as in
collections in various countries including Jordan, UK, Switzerland, Germany and the
USA. When he decided to become a professional painter, there were no artists in his
family. Ayan is now surrounded by arts: his wife and mother-in-law are painters, his
daughter is studying arts, and his three nephews are engaged in the arts...
Spending every weekday at the university where he is an instructor and chair of the
department, Ayan paints at nights, during weekends and vacations. He allocates one
third of his 24 hours a day to the institution, one third to eating, drinking and resting,
and the remaining one third to reading and painting. He would like to allocate
another one third to his family and travelling all around the world, if only he had it.
In his paintings, the artist’s desire to express overlaps with his effort to capture the
reality. His painting themed around the human being and his environment, Aydın
Ayan produces figurative paintings that incline more heavily towards social aspects.
Adopting a simple approach, the artist pictures figure groups of two, three and more
sometimes in their traditional clothing, sometimes on the backdrop of the nature,
and sometimes as they are engaged in their pursuits.
His masterful command of the themes he tackles combined with his vast knowledge
of pattern and color make Aydın Ayan an eminent and leading artist in the Turkish
history of painting.
Attended by the former Minister of Culture and Tourism Suat Çağlayan,
industrialist Öner Akgerman, Deputy Chairperson of Yaşar Holding Yılmaz
Gökoğlu, Kemal Pakkaner, Mümtaz Sağlam, Sema Kemahlı, Fahri Sümer
and wife, as well as many artists and art enthusiasts, the exhibition covers
two collections and 22 works put on sale, all made in oil paint. Aydın
Ayan’s exhibition will be on display at Selçuk Yaşar Art Gallery until 30
April 2010.
Who is Prof. Aydın Ayan?
Aydın Ayan was born in Çaykara, Trabzon in 1953. He got his master of
arts degree in painting from İstanbul State Academy of Fine Arts in 1977,
where he subsequently worked as a teaching assistant. He studied painting in the UK
in 1986 and 1987 on scholarship from the British Council. Ayan became an associate
professor in 1990 and a professor in 1998.
Aydın Ayan received Eisenhower Exchange Fellowship (EEF) and carried out research
into culture and the arts in the USA. Since 1975, he participated in nearly three
hundred group exhibitions in Turkey and abroad, and had more than thirty solo
exhibitions including those held in Volda in Norway, Seoul in Korea,
Thailand, and at Goldsmiths’ Gallery in London, as well as in various cities
across Turkey. He has won 17 awards, 16 of them presented for his
paintings and one for his poetry.
Having served as the vice rector and painting department chair at Mimar
Sinan Fine Arts University (MSGSÜ) for two terms, the artist currently
pursues his works in İstanbul and Şile and holds a position as an instructor
and is the Director of the MSGSÜ Museum of Painting and Sculpture.
The artist has a number of published books including Türk Resim Sanatında İnsani
Bir Duyarlılık: Nedim Günsür (A Touch of Humanistic Sensitivity in the Turkish Art of
Painting: Nedim Günsür) published by İşbank Publications in 2006, Bir Seçki İki
Sergi:70+70 (A Selection, Two Exhibitions: 70+70) published by MSGSÜ Publications
in 2008, and 1839-1923 Tanzimat’tan Cumhuriyet’e Türk Plastik Sanatları ve İki Müze
Önerisi (1839-1923 Turkish Plastic Arts from the Tanzimat Era until the Republic Era
and Two Museum Suggestions), as well as other books. There are three books on
the life and art of Ayan: one of them is with the signature of Ahmet Oktay in 1997
from Science and Art Gallery Publications, the second one is with the signature of
Kıymet Giray in 1999 form İşbank Publications and the last one is by the artist
himself, with the title Aydın Ayan ‘Sisyphos’un Direnci’ 35. Sanat Yılı
Retrospektifi (Aydın Ayan 'the Resistance of Sisyphos' 35. Anniversary in Art
Retrospective Exhibition) in 2007 from İşbank Publications.