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Kura Kolektif has opened “The Most Beautiful Part of the Story: Abstract Painting in Türkiye,” an exhibition on abstract painting in Türkiye from 1950 to 1970, to visitors at The Muradiye in Istanbul’s Karakoy district.
The show displays a special selection from the U+K Art Collection for the first time, with 74 works by 29 artists. Kura Kolektif Director Elif Ozgen said artistic transformations took place in the world and in Türkiye after World War II.
Ozgen said that between 1950 and 1970, changes at the academy, students returning from abroad, and the interaction between these students and artists who learned painting outside the academy created an exciting environment for abstract painting.
Ozgen noted that the exhibition includes abstract works by artists such as Ferruh Basaga, Nuri Iyem, Fusun Onur and Nil Yalter that have not been displayed for a long time, as well as works by artists who produced in this field throughout their lives.
She added that the collective also plans thematic exhibitions covering the continuation of the abstract painting journey and earlier periods.
Explaining why they describe this period as “The Most Beautiful Part of the Story,” as in the exhibition’s title, Ozgen said the long-standing ban on depicting figures and debates over perspective or imitation in earlier periods did not apply to abstract painting.
Ozgen said artists freed from the debates of the past projected what is within them onto the canvas through color, line, stain and geometry instead of representing a subject or an object.
“Even if the abstraction of the visible is present in some works, most of the works in the exhibition make visible on the canvas what comes from the invisible within the artist,” she said.
She added that the abstract affects the viewer’s inner world and can carry the viewer, whether stain-based or geometric, to a realm of transcendence where there is no narrative. “It is like reading a wordless poem with the eyes,” Ozgen said, noting that the collective took into account the poetry that abstract painting holds within itself when naming the exhibition.
Ozgen pointed out that the U+K Art Collection as a whole focuses on the untold stories of contemporary and abstract painting in Türkiye, and said it was created to bring attention to overlooked moments of change, artists and works in the history of contemporary painting in the country.
Ozgen said that in the coming period, the collective plans to open mixed and solo exhibitions featuring works by living artists, in addition to collection exhibitions.
Noting that they will present the work of young artists in particular, Ozgen said the collective is planning a 15-day event with an entirely different concept starting Dec. 15, with details to be shared in November.
“We are also active in design and publishing,” she said, adding that the first publication will be the catalog of the first exhibition, and that other publications will follow.
The exhibition “The Most Beautiful Part of the Story: Abstract Painting in Türkiye” can be visited until Dec. 12.
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