Who is Özer Çağlar? (1981-Gaziantep)Özer Çağlar was born in 1981 in Şehitkâmil district of Gaziantep, Turkey. He completed his primary education in a village school far from the city. His time at a boarding school for middle school marked the beginning of everything, a time when his passion and talent for painting emerged. Despite never having an art teacher or being exposed to serious art environments during his middle and high school years, his artistic talent naturally surfaced. After graduating from high school in the field of jewelry design, Özer Çağlar won third place in the Gazi University Painting Department in 1997. He received his basic art education from Himmet Gümrah and his workshop classes from Söbütay Özer, graduating in 2002. In 2003, he was appointed as an art teacher in a beautiful town in Anatolia and began his career. One of his first endeavors was to establish a workshop, and he continued his painting studies without interruption. In 2010, he was appointed to the Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce Fine Arts High School through a Ministry exam (Anatolian High Schools Exam) held in Ankara. He currently works as a painting teacher at the GTO Fine Arts High School.In 2015, his work on museum projects inspired him to think about urban aesthetics, art in cities, art in public spaces, and public art, leading him to decide to pursue a master’s degree in urban studies. He completed his master’s degree in Urban Studies at the Gaziantep University Sociology Department. During these years, Çağlar focused on wax sculpture alongside his museum work. Having learned and developed the art of wax sculpture entirely on his own, Çağlar has created a hyperrealistic style of sculpture. In addition to wax sculptures, Çağlar also creates monumental sculptures. Çağlar is a member of BHRD, GÖRSED, USB, and serves on the Gaziantep City Council Culture Directorate’s art review board.Çağlar has earned everyone’s admiration with his diligence. To date, he has held five solo exhibitions, created two monumental sculptures, produced wax sculptures and designs for three different museums, and created metal sculptures for various venues. Çağlar is one of the rare painters who embodies and practices the artist-teacher school of thought.Çağlar has occasionally served as a juror in private and public institutions. Believing that social media platforms are more effective in bringing his work to the public today, Çağlar describes this as “art from a distance.” Continuing his work in his studio in Gaziantep, Çağlar’s artistic vision is as follows: He interprets the relationships between objects in his immediate and distant environment and humans through the use of stain, color, form, and paint. He works mostly on canvas, based on drawing. Color is prominent in his paintings. He attempts to apply color theory through mathematical calculations. While adhering to forms, barrels, carriages, goats, and hibiscus flowers have been the main subjects of his paintings. He views his studio environment as a laboratory and, within a more experimental painting approach, has developed his paintings within an academic framework. Çağlar views art as an intellectual discipline.
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