The Milli Reasürans Art Gallery opens with the Orhan Peker Exhibition.

The Milli Reasürans Art Gallery will open on November 4th with the Orhan Peker exhibition. The exhibition will showcase works from various periods by Orhan Peker (1928-1978), known as the "mischievous child of Turkish painting."

Orhan Peker, the "Master of Black and White," consistently produced simple and striking works throughout his 51-year career and was recognized with numerous awards throughout his artistic career.

In his handwritten biography, written in the 1960s while he was in Ankara, Orhan Peker described his artistic approach as follows: "Above all, I believe in sincerity (an individualistic attitude) in the art of painting. I have never believed in those who hope to achieve true art through engaged means without finding their own personal language. What the French call poetic realist art has always intrigued me."

In an interview conducted after an exhibition in the 1970s, Peker said: “Whatever an artist does, they reflect the society and nature they inhabit. Can the fruit fall far from the tree?”

The Milli Reasürans Art Gallery prepared an Orhan Peker exhibition book. In this book, Prof. Önder Küçükerman describes how his uncle, Orhan Peker, always wanted to be ahead throughout his life and used all his strength ‘without self-pity’ to achieve this goal...” His close friend İlhan Berk, in his article for the book, draws attention to the sadness underlying Peker’s “playful child” image: “In all his paintings, there is always an inner pain. This is evident even in his brightest paintings.” It's as if he's come to excavate sadness and pain..."

Berk, emphasizing that he always chooses dark colors in his paintings, says, "Blue, white, and red (which appear in his latest paintings) are more like a sifted version of sadness."

The exhibition at the Milli Reasürans Art Gallery can be viewed from November 4-26, 1994.