Turan Erol Retrospective Exhibition

18.10/11.12.1999

TURAN EROL’S WORLD

Turan Erol’s retrospective exhibition, which has passed the 50th year of his artistic career, is being exhibited at Millî Reasürans Art Gallery between 18.10.1999 and 11.12.1999, curated by Amelie Edgü. The works selected from the artist’s 50-year output from the 1950s to the last works he prepared for this exhibition are displayed in the gallery with the arrangement of Mustafa Pilevneli.

In the book prepared for the exhibition, İlhan Berk states that Turan Erol, who developed his own style within the Turkish painting that became original after the 1950s and gradually surpassed his period and became one of the distinguished artists of Turkish painting, has not undergone major changes since the beginning and makes the following assessment: “In fact, when we look at Turan Erol’s paintings as a whole, we always come across different but still hidden phases that are separated from each other by sharp lines. We can talk about a change without change.”

İlhan Berk says that Turan Erol loves nature, silence, simplicity and light and explains his relationship with nature as follows: “Nature generally does not move much in his paintings. Instead of a walking nature, we encounter a nature that is content with its place. This is a nature that does not surprise, does not conflict. He observes and examines nature. He will find and extract whatever he can from this examination. This will gradually become Turan Erol’s philosophy. He explains his thoughts with nature, and puts them in their place with nature.”

According to İlhan Berk, in Turan Erol’s paintings, “a constant love of nature and a parallel understanding of painting continue. Moreover, time has stopped in him. While the regions change in the painting, time stands still. There is another attitude that is not very prominent in Turan Erol’s painting; this is spontaneity, that is, being in oneself. Seeing everything within oneself, capturing it, coinciding with being within oneself. I call this simplicity.”

İlhan Berk, who states that mass deformations and expressionist features are seen in the artist’s latest paintings, and that this not only adds a new breath to Turan Erol’s painting but also completely envelops the painting and adds life and excitement to it, comments on this feature as follows: “Not only that; expressionist deformation makes the painting more real in his hands.”