The artist depicts not nature itself but the inner time of the person observing it. The quiet balance he establishes between color, form, and light takes the viewer on a journey into their own memories.
Sevgi Art Gallery kicked off October with the exhibition "Now There" by A. Celal Binzet, one of the masters of Turkish painting. Opening on October 1st, the exhibition will be open to art lovers until October 18th.
"Now There" depicts not only nature but also the inner time of the person observing it. Binzet's paintings are free of urgency; color, form, and light intertwine, creating an almost breathtaking stillness. This silence reflects an inner world the artist has developed over the years. Binzet's life spans a journey from a childhood that began in the warm, soft light of Adıyaman to the intellectual climate of Ankara.
The training he received at the Gazi Education Institute from prominent teachers of the period, such as Adnan Turani, Mürşide İçmeli, Nevzat Akoral, and Hamza İnanç, deepened his perspective on painting. In his master's thesis, titled "City and Plastic Arts," he discussed the relationship between nature, humanity, and the city with a plastic language. He never viewed art as merely an aesthetic pursuit, but as a carrier of social memory. Over the years, he taught, created graphic designs, and brought art to a wider audience through radio and television programs.
He served for a time as president of the United Painters and Sculptors Association and was among the founders of the Contemporary Arts Foundation. The 29 solo exhibitions he has held to date are silent witnesses to his long-standing dialogue with painting.
A formal fidelity is striking in Binzet's art. He neither turns to fashion nor the exaggerated rhetoric of the age. He has maintained the same inner discipline throughout the years, seeking human existence in the serenity of nature. In this respect, he shares a sensibility with figures like Hamit Görele, Turgut Zaim, and Saim Özeren in the history of Turkish painting: a simple yet profound intuition of nature. For him, painting is a search for balance beyond the visible; a space of peace where color, form, and light complement each other.
"Now There" is not merely an exhibition; it's a stop where time slows down. Binzet's paintings are landscapes not of the external world, but of the internal world. Everyone who stands before them finds a memory of their own: the sea of a childhood, the light of an evening, the echo of a silence. This autumn, the exhibition leaves a quiet but powerful mark on Ankara's gallery calendar. For A. Celal Binzet's paintings are not landscapes seen with the naked eye, but rather the echo of colors lingering in the heart.
Source: https://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/kultur-sanat/ankara-sonbaharini-dingin-bir-isikla-karsliyor-a-celal-binzet-ten-simdi-orada-2442629