Zeki Faik İzer's Exhibition Opens to Art Lovers

İş Sanat Kibele Sanat Galerisi is presenting painter Zeki Faik İzer's exhibition titled "Paris, Istanbul, Nice" on the 118th anniversary of the artist's birth. İzer passed away in 1988. Works by İzer, who began his artistic career with Cubism and later continued with patterns and abstract figures, can be viewed free of charge at Kibele Sanat Galerisi starting 15 April every day. Zeki Faik İzer, who was skilled at imparting musicality and rhythm to disorder and described his art with the words "I found rhythm in drawing: sometimes dynamic, sometimes in tranquility," created works always full of enthusiasm. His paintings convey a natural spontaneity, joy, dynamism and energy that comes from within. The colors on his canvases, the stains and textures created through fluid brushwork layered upon each other, convey the thoughts and emotions being expressed in the painting to the highest level and reflect to the viewer. [caption id="attachment_151827" align="aligncenter"] Zeki Faik İzer[/caption] His granddaughter Prof. Ayşegül İzer commented on the artist as follows: "Rather than depicting nature as it is, the artist should present emotions and inner world, distorting the form of reality, attempting to express his own subjective feelings. Only mediocre art emerges from formulas. But formulas have emerged from masterpiece paintings." The exhibition, prepared jointly by Prof. Ayşegül İzer and Emre Zeytinoğlu, consists of works borrowed from various collections as well as Zeki Faik İzer works found in the family archive that are being seen for the first time and meeting with viewers.   Kibele Sanat Galerisi can be visited free of charge daily between 10.00 – 19.00. For group reservations and workshop activities, you can send an email to [email protected].     Zeki Faik İzer Zeki Faik İzer was born in Istanbul on 15 April 1905. He completed his primary education at Beykoz Ahmet Mithat Efendi School. He received his first painting lessons from Agâh Efendi during the same period. At age 13 he began writing poetry, which was published in İnsan and Akbaba magazines. After completing Vefa High School, motivated by his interest in painting, he enrolled at Sanayi-i Nefise School (Academy of Fine Arts). Between 1923 and 1928 he was a student of Hikmet Onat and İbrahim Çallı. In 1928 he won the exam opened for European study and took lessons at André Lhote's studio in Paris on "technique and aesthetics." He continued his development at the studio of world-renowned Orientalist painter Achille-Émile Othon Friesz. At the Paris Academy of Fine Arts he studied ceramics and fresco; he learned artistic retouching and solarization technique from American photographer Man Ray, who regarded him first and foremost as a painter. His intense interest in photography helped him convey his emotions and thoughts through the camera; he took and exhibited many human-focused photographs. Upon returning to Istanbul, he was appointed as a teacher in the Painting Department of Ankara Gazi Teachers' Institute. In 1933, together with young artist friends educated abroad like himself—Elif Naci, Nurullah Berk and Zühtü Müritoğlu—he founded the "D Group" with the aim of sharing his art with society, but left the group in 1947 due to ideological differences. Throughout his life, İzer held numerous exhibitions and crowned his art with national and international awards. He returned to Istanbul in 1984 and passed away four years later.