Retrospective of Nevhiz at the Milî Reasürans Art Gallery

The retrospective exhibition of Nevhiz will be on display at the Milî Reasürans Art Gallery from January 15 to March 1, 2003. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog featuring an evaluation of the artist’s recent works by Mehmet Ergüven and an interview with the artist conducted by Levent Çalıkoğlu regarding his earlier works.

"I believe that true communication with art, which can transform into a transcendent experience, cannot be established in a state of complacency. However, this does not mean that I paint with the intention of disturbing those who are heedlessly engaged. Such an effect arises spontaneously. I am uneasy because I haven’t adapted. I don't want anyone to adapt. When I say I haven't adapted, I mean that without learning to become accustomed, without compromise, one cannot even survive, let alone fulfill oneself. I am simply trying to preserve my remaining life, my Nevhizness, and my resistance to aligning with universal values. I try to understand life by questioning it, affirming it in my own way, through my stance. By painting."

Nevhiz Tanyeli’s retrospective exhibition at the Milî Reasürans Art Gallery reveals the works of an artist who surprises, shocks, and provokes the viewer. Known for his resistance to death and the negation of life, Nevhiz is one of the distinctive painters in Turkish art, and this exhibition allows the public to see his works in a comprehensive collection for the first time. The exhibition catalog, which includes a text by Mehmet Ergüven and an interview with the artist by Levent Çalıkoğlu, is a valuable resource for those wishing to learn more about the artist.

Nevhiz Tanyeli studied at the Fine Arts Academy under the guidance of Neşet Günal, Cemal Tollu, and Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, graduating in 1965. Between 1971 and 1975, he received a scholarship to study in Paris.

Nevhiz holds a unique position in Turkish painting due to the distinctive language he uses in his works. As Mehmet Ergüven states, “The price Nevhiz has paid for being misunderstood all these years is undoubtedly the gift of courageously resisting what is truly meaningless. The painting journey that has become inseparable from Nevhiz's life is largely the story of this courage: unpretentious yet confident and dignified.”

Nevhiz explains the development of his relationship with painting and the creation of his artistic language: “There are safe ways to paint. First, you learn to master the visual language of painting, which is a unique language. Hierarchical harmony formed between the elements of the painting or within them is also a safe path to successful artistic communication. As you move away from agreed-upon values and a shared language, it becomes increasingly difficult, perhaps impossible, to convey your message to the art consumer. As a painter, you constantly experience conflicting emotions. You are simultaneously the creator, the critic, and the judge of your own work. In this traffic of simultaneous back-and-forth, you fluctuate between the necessity of relying on accumulated knowledge, embracing artistic tradition for security, comfort, and assurance, and the need to create an original artistic language. In this turmoil, the painting itself strives to survive.”

For Nevhiz, the most shocking aspect of life is the violence and the banalization of death that occurs in every aspect of daily life, as well as humanity’s preference for ignoring and becoming numb to it. Although the atmosphere, figures, and images in his paintings may seem surreal, they are deeply influenced by the realities of the present day and the social and political conditions surrounding us.

“Life and Death” ... These two realities, which have deeply affected humanity since the beginning of time, have been evident in Nevhiz's paintings since the 1960s. His ongoing struggle with life and death and the fine line between them reached an artistic peak with his 1983 exhibition titled *On Life and Death*, just before and after 1980.

Drawing inspiration from life, the artist courageously delves into the complex labyrinths of the human soul and explores the boundaries of death. His works convey the unsettling nature of life and the looming presence of death. In his later paintings, human figures falling or flying into an empty space appear to express the "joy of falling into the void." These are not death celebrations, but rather the artist's resistance to the meaninglessness of life and the adverse forces in the world, an attempt at affirmation.

Nevhiz explains his connection between life and art: “Yes, life is more important. Life, which must be transformed—art can be the salt in that soup. But in the hustle and bustle of the struggle for survival, people lose their humanity, abandon their qualities, and accept the world as it is. For me, painting is the journal of awareness. It means remembering, not forgetting. I see the period we are currently in as a certain phase in the development of humanity. In this phase, destructive tendencies prevail, and like many others, I suffer the consequences of this. I long for a world where life can be affirmed, made beautiful, and lived more humanely. A world where human values are excluded, or at least appear to be unstoppable, has come to dominate the earth. The more we are forced to endure, accept, and become numb to this pollution, the stronger the desire and will to seek redemption grows. The pain, the wound, heats us, if we have the strength to speak our pain.”

Looking back over the 38 years of his career, Nevhiz reflects: “When I look back at my paintings, I see that, although new works have been added over time, I have persistently tried to address certain subjects again and again, almost obsessively. My visual obsessions seem to reappear, maybe even more than before! I find that the subjects I fixate on, or variations of some of my works, often reappear on different canvases or papers. The question of 'When does a painting end?' also comes to mind here. I don’t think a painting ever truly ends. It only pauses, until you start the next one, and it pauses again. In this sense, all paintings throughout art history are, in a way, continuations of one another, and perhaps, a painter is actually working on one single painting, moving from one to the next."

For Nevhiz, painting is a response to life’s continuity, its wholeness, and its dynamic nature, an attempt to understand reality without succumbing to conditioning or prejudice.

The retrospective exhibition at the Milî Reasürans Art Gallery offers a unique opportunity to discover one of Turkish art’s most exceptional artists. The exhibition will be open from January 15 to March 1.