Mansur Yıldız

Who is Mansur Yıldız? (2004-Siirt)

Born in Kurtalan, Siirt in 2004. He started Atatürk Primary School in 2011. While attending Atatürk Secondary School, he met his teacher Zekiye Öztürk Şamili in the 7th grade and, guided by her, was accepted to Siirt Takasbank Fine Arts High School in 2018. During his four years of high school, he learned various techniques from many teachers and reflected this in his art. Focusing on painting, he was accepted to the Painting Department of the Faculty of Education at Anadolu University in 2022.

He benefited from the art education of his department professors, especially Şemsettin Edeer and Ayşe Dilek Kıraatlı. This intellectual and technical development improved and diversified his perspective on painting. Throughout his university life, he was an active student, participating in many competitions and exhibitions. He received awards, honorable mentions, and exhibitions from competitions he entered by invitation. He continues his artistic life in his own studio in Eskişehir.

Artistic Perspective;
My artistic practice explores the ancient bond between humanity and the land, nature, and communities through the silent yet unwavering cycles of rural life. My paintings are not merely depictions of a pastoral landscape; they are a plastic journey into humanity’s roots and its forgotten collective memory, undertaken with the pure power of paint.

In the scenes I construct with the intense materiality of oil paint on canvas, two fundamental concepts stand out: Herd and Labor.

The Threshold of the Herd: Sheep figures and human groups represent the blurred boundaries between the individual and the community, the tension between belonging and loneliness. These structures moving along mountain paths embody a temporal transition between stillness and movement, a sense of a “threshold.”

The Resilience of Labor: Scenes of tree gathering, tree transportation, and harsh winter conditions document moments where the materials provided by nature directly confront human power. The tree reveals its loyalty to its roots, while the human struggles for survival with the burden they carry.
The color palette I use is nourished by the earth’s own tones, the whiteness of winter, and the brown of the soil. Light, shadow, and strong brushstrokes are not meant to dramatize scenes; they are meant to convey the profound loneliness of the place and the harsh rhythm of the countryside. My painting is an attempt to become part of the earth’s own silent and unwavering rhythm, against the artificial speed of the modern world.