The exhibition, which focuses on city life and human stories, can be visited until March 20, 2026. Opened on January 10th, the exhibition has attracted considerable interest from art lovers.
IS THIS MY CITY?
Emre Zeytinoğlu's essay also garnered significant attention at the exhibition: Zeytinoğlu's essay is as follows:
How is a city defined? As a place where people build, create a community, establish a cultural system, feel a sense of belonging thanks to that cultural system, and place their vital needs and productions within all these factors? Many people would not object to such a definition and would like to see their own city as such a place. They also do not neglect to recount its history, combining it with their own personal history and delving into various oral or written narratives. Moreover, these narratives are not limited only to that person's own city; He defines other cities from the same perspective, imagining cities he hasn't seen based on what he's heard, read, or seen, and assigning a fixed character to them.
However, these narratives and emotions are not the current reality of a city; at best, they are the products of city images created in separate minds as a result of a romantic approach. That is, they are the "should be" states of the city, rather than its "current state." Every time one goes out into the street, it becomes clear that life and the city capable of responding to that life have moved far away from the city in those minds; almost nothing remains of it. The city's symbols have changed function, taking on a touristic role and being handed over to a profit-driven economy. The connections between side streets and newly opened avenues, rail systems, etc., have changed, and the direction of circulation has been reversed. The coasts are covered with highways, and the few remaining public spaces have come under the control of the existing powers. It is difficult to recognize the spaces of memories.
Therefore, the relationship between the city images in the mind and the actual city has long been irrevocably severed. Because people's relationship with the city has also changed according to their needs or interests, and their ways of using the city have demolished and rebuilt the content of everything within it. However, romantic narratives are still relevant and continue to circulate by word of mouth.
The responsibility for this state of the city certainly cannot be attributed to evil spirits in the sky; it is the city dweller himself who changes the city, produces and disseminates those romantic narratives, and always imagines the "ideal." The city dweller avoids admitting this; so much so that if he were to accept his own agency, he would have to abandon his romantic narratives, which he never does. It's a strange state of mind: the city dweller who wants to belong to the city, who chooses to share in its emotions, but who does not hesitate to destroy it with his own hands...
Nevertheless, it must be said: A city, by its very nature, never remains the same; it neither remains fixed at the moment the first stone was laid for its initial settlement, nor can it preserve its most accepted characteristic structure. Like a living organism, it adapts to changing living conditions and political and economic systems. Sometimes the city loses some of its organs, and sometimes it adds new ones. Could those who add and remove these organs from the city be anyone other than the city dwellers themselves, who constantly rearrange their own lives according to practical circumstances? And can the city dweller be blamed for this? But aren't those same city dwellers also the ones who cling to those cultural narratives about their city, delving into memories and refreshing their sense of belonging? There is only one answer to these questions: On the one hand, it is the city dweller who changes their city according to the needs of practical life, but on the other hand, it is the same city dweller who experiences emotional breakdowns after each change. It is, quite literally, a state of schizophrenia from which the city dweller cannot escape... Although the city dweller constantly feels this schizophrenic state, they don't pay much attention to it; they have become accustomed to this contradictory behavior; they continue to cling to the established culture of the city they have changed, to the rituals of that culture, to the image of the city in their mind, and to their memories, all as if it were still there.
At this point, when we look at Utku Öksüz's paintings, we will generally see landscapes of a distorted city. Which city is this? Is it the artist's own city? Or is it a juxtaposition of images taken from various cities? It doesn't matter; such images appear as the common character of every city and capture snapshots of the processes of change. That is, the unique symbolic landscapes that distinguish cities from one another have changed so much, transformed in form and function, or disappeared, that the most characteristic image that remains when we say "city" is the actions and events that create the chaotic environments in the paintings.
It is also worth noting that many city dwellers who will see these paintings by Utku Öksüz may think that they have nothing to do with their own city. This is because they still believe that the images in their minds are compatible with their own city. And while looking at the city under the influence of those images, they may not want to perceive, or indeed do not perceive, the actions and events that create the chaotic environments. Let's conclude by reiterating what we said before: A city cannot exist without constant change, but a city dweller cannot live without thinking about the images of their own city that they create in their mind, without seeing those images "as if they were real." Utku Öksüz's paintings most powerfully illustrate this schizophrenic state.
WHO IS UTKU ÖKSÜZ?
Utku Öksüz is a painter, visual arts teacher, and founder of an art studio born in Turkey. Originally from Ordu, the artist is actively involved in education as well as contemporary art studies.
Short Biography
Born: 1991, Ordu, Turkey. Education: Graduated from Ordu Anatolian Fine Arts High School. Studied at Dumlupınar University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Painting. Completed his master's degree in Combined Arts at Gazi University, Institute of Fine Arts. Profession: Works as a visual arts teacher and produces paintings independently.
Art and Activities
His works have been featured in various group exhibitions. Adopting a contemporary approach to painting in his work, Öksüz produces pieces in various concepts. For example, one of his works was exhibited under the title "Unhappy City".
Teaching and Workshop Activities
He works as a visual arts teacher at a private school in Ordu. He opened the Utku Öksüz Art Workshop, offering basic art education, painting, photography, and drama activities to both children and adults. The workshop aims to provide art education in a more experiential way, different from a traditional course environment.
In short, Utku Öksüz is a young artist, educator, and founder of an art workshop who produces work in Turkey, particularly in the fields of painting and visual arts.