Yüksel Arslan

Artistic Development and First Exhibitions;
Arslan held his first solo exhibition in 1955 at the Maya Art Gallery, managed by Adalet Cimcoz, under the title "Relationship, Behavior, Praise to Difficulties." The exhibition received positive reviews from prominent art critics such as Ferit Edgü and Sezer Tansuğ, and all the works in the exhibition were sold.
Influenced by Jacques Mauduit's work "40,000 Years of Modern Art," he began to develop the technical approach he would use throughout his artistic career.
Arture Technique and Artistic Approach;
Yüksel Arslan named the works he produced using his self-developed technique "arture." This term is derived from the combination of the French words art (art) and peinture (painting). In this technique, the artist used natural materials instead of conventional paints. These included unusual materials such as:
• Earth pigments
• Honey
• Egg white
• Soap
• Plants
• Tea
• Tobacco
• Bone marrow
• Blood and urine. This technique was first used prominently in the Human Days series.

Paris Years and International Recognition;
He served in the military in Eleşkirt in 1957–1958. His second solo exhibition, Phallisme, which he opened in Istanbul in 1959, received positive reviews from important art circles.
In the same year, he was invited to the International Surrealism Exhibition by André Breton, but could not attend. In 1961, he went to Paris and spent most of his life there. During his exhibition in 1962, Jean Dubuffet saw the artist's works, contacted him, and bought one of his pieces.
In 1965, he was in Berlin. During this period, he met his wife Lidy, and their first child, Artur, was born.

Censorship, Controversies, and Philosophical Influences;

Philosophy held an important place in the artist's intellectual world:
• 1960–1967 → Nietzsche influence
• After 1969 → Karl Marx influence
He produced the Alienations series based on Marx's manuscripts. Then, between 1969–1975, he created the Capital Series. This series was later published as a book.

Major Series Projects;
Capital Series (1969–1975)
Produced inspired by Karl Marx's Das Kapital.
Updating Capital (1975–1979)
Influences Series (1980–1984)
Consists of 126 artures. It includes all the elements that influenced the artist from prehistory to the present day.
Autoarture (1984–1986)
Autobiographical works based on the artist's own life.
Human Series (1986–2000)
Inspired by Aleksandr Oparin's book *The Origin of Life*.
New Influences (post-2000)
A continuation of the Influences series.

Awards;
• 1981 — Sedat Simavi Visual Arts Award (together with İlhan Koman)
• 1982 — Humour Noir Grandville Black Humor Award (France)
Exhibitions;
He held numerous exhibitions in Turkey, mainly in Istanbul and Ankara. Internationally, he participated in or held solo exhibitions in cities such as:
• Paris
• Venice
• Copenhagen
• Frankfurt
• Liège
• Washington
• New York
• Vienna
• Prague

Books;
• Notebooks 1965–1994 – Galeri Nev (1996)
• The Power of Laughter is Great and Terrible – (with Philippe Krebs, 2005)
• I Have No Obsession with Western Culture – (with Ferit Edgü, 2011)
• New Influences – Sel Yayıncılık (2015)
• Man / The Creation of Man – (with Jacques Vallet, 2017)
• A Life – Dirimart (2017)

His Last Years;
Yüksel Arslan spent most of his life in France and passed away in Paris on April 20, 2017.
Yüksel Arslan developed a unique artistic language that went beyond traditional painting techniques, bringing together painting, writing, thought, and biology. With his Arture technique, he has established a unique position in both the Turkish and European art scenes. Particularly with his approach that combines Marx, Nietzsche, and scientific thought with art, he has carved out a unique place for himself in contemporary art.