503.During our Art Meeting, we are visiting the group exhibition “Like being Born Again”, which is located in the historical Yuvakimyon Greek Girls' High School.

Yuvakimyon Greek Girls High School is a historical educational institution located on Tevkii Cafer Mektebi Street in the Fener district of Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. The construction of the school started in 1879 and was completed and opened for education in 1882. This school, which has been operating for about a century, has provided education for Greek schoolgirls. French Turkish and Greek as well as French and English are taught as the languages of education.

Patriarch II, who was instrumental in the opening of the school in 1882. Yoakim ensured the establishment of this institution by donating his land in Balat and two thousand gold pieces on it. However, he died before he could see the completion of the school. He was succeeded by Patriarch III. Yoakim has continued his school studies where he left off. For this reason, the school, which was realized with the joint effort of the two patriarchs, was named “Yuvakimyon Greek Girls' High School”. Due to the decrease in the number of students and teachers, education was discontinued in 1988, and it was officially closed in 2011.

Today, this building, which hosts cultural and artistic events while preserving its historical texture, is one of the important venues reflecting the multicultural past of Istanbul.

April 12-27th at this venue, the group exhibition titled “As If Reborn” curated by Trexit Salvador aims to open a space for independent artists who should be heard more often, more visibility in the field of contemporary art, equal representation and Dec. Designed with an approach that believes that art can exist on a more pluralistic basis, the exhibition aims to open up space for new forms of expression through productions such as painting, sculpture and installation. The exhibition brings together 20 artists and brings them together with the audience. Dec.

We will visit this special exhibition organized inside the historical building together with assistant curator Aysen Gülday and the artists whose works are included in the exhibition according to the availability.

*Our art meetings are free for our members, 500 TL for guests and 250 TL for children under the age of 12. For your guests, we ask that they be deposited to our association account as a donation before the trip. 

Tuesday April 22nd

12:00-13:00

Address: Balat, Tevkii Jafar School Street No:7, Fatih

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502.We are visiting the house of painter and writer Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu at our Art Meeting.

Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, one of the most original names in the Turkish painting and literary world, was born in 1911 in Görele. His interest in art started thanks to his teacher Zeki Kocamemi at Trabzon High School. His horizons were broadened with the art books sent by his older brother Sabahattin Eyüboğlu, who was educated in Paris. in 1929, he entered the State Academy of Fine Arts and became a student of Nazmi Ziya Güran and Ibrahim Çallı. in 1931, he went to Paris to study French and deepen his art education. During this period, he was interested in art history, influenced by romantic and post-impressionist artists; the influence of Cézanne in particular became apparent.

in 1932, he briefly attended the André Lhote Workshop, where he met the Romanian-born artist Eren Eyüboğlu (Ernestine Letoni), who would become his future wife. in 1933, he went to London and returned to Turkey at the end of the year. in 1934, he started working as a painter for the New Man magazine and joined the d Group the same year. in 1935, he opened his first solo exhibition in Bucharest. in 1936, he married Eren Eyüboğlu, and in 1937 he took a position at the Academy of Fine Arts as an assistant to Leopold Levy. He attracted attention with his works that brought color and stain to the forefront; He won awards by participating in State Painting and Sculpture Exhibitions.

Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, who has been productive not only in the fields of painting but also poetry, essays and translation throughout his artistic life, has developed an original approach based on the East-West synthesis in his art by blending elements of folk literature and folk art with Western education. He produced works with many techniques such as writing, engraving, ceramics, sculpture, stained glass, mosaic, calligraphy, screen printing and lithography. He moved away from the traditional oil painting technique, also using unusual materials such as plastic glue, sand, sawdust and Japanese paper. since the 1940s, he has defended the unity of architecture and art; he painted murals in many cities.

the “Blue Anatolia” journeys they started in 1945 together with names such as Azra Erhat and Sebahattin Eyüboğlu reinforced their deep interest in Anatolian cultures and their understanding of humanist art. Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, who brought traditional elements such as Anatolian rugs, Islamic calligraphy and Byzantine mosaics to a contemporary interpretation, passed away in 1975.

The artist's house in the Fenerbahce neighborhood of Kadikoy, where he lived for many years and produced his works, was designed by Turgut Cansever, one of the leading figures of Turkish architecture, in 1958. This building, which bears the architectural features of the Republican period, was registered as a “cultural asset required to be protected” in 2009. in the zoning plan made in 2014, the Eyüboğlu family filed an objection to staying in the road area and the house was taken into the protection area by the decision of the Istanbul Regional Council for the Protection of Cultural Assets numbered V.

Today, in this special place, which continues its function as the ”Blue Turtle Art House", the life of the Eyüboğlu family intertwined with art and the traditional art of writing continue to be kept alive. On the path opened by Bedri Rahmi and Eren Eyüboğlu, who interpreted writing, one of the deep-rooted cultures of Anatolia, with a modern approach; their son Mehmet Eyüboğlu continued this tradition and produced manuscripts that he developed with carving technique throughout his life. After Mehmet Eyüboğlu's death, this precious legacy is kept alive by his wife Hughette Eyüboğlu and his daughter-in-law Sibel Eyüboğlu.

Handmade manuscripts produced in this house, where the artist's workshop is also located, go beyond traditional forms such as hijab, yemeni, and add aesthetic value to everyday life in many areas of use such as tablecloths, loincloths, and dresses. This art is brought together with new generations with the “Traditional Writing Festivals” held at the Blue Turtle Art House on the first weekend of June every year. We will visit the house of Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu accompanied by his granddaughter Rahmi Eyüboğlu.

*Our art meetings are free for our members, 500 TL for guests and 250 TL for children under the age of 12. For your guests, we ask that they be deposited as a donation to our association account before the trip. 

Tuesday April 15th

12:00-13:00

Address: Fenerbahce, Bedri Rahmi Eyuboglu Street No:8 Kalamis 

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501.During our Art Meeting, we visit the workshop of artist, psychiatrist Rahshan Düren.

Rahshan Düren was born in Germany in 1975. He completed his primary and secondary education in Germany, Switzerland and Italy. He studied Art History, Philosophy and Political Science at RWTH Aachen. he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Cologne in 2002 and received his specialty in Adult Psychiatry from the Faculty of Medicine of Marmara University. 

Rahshan Düren, whose works are in the collection of the Harvard Art Foundation, held her first exhibition in St. Petersburg, Switzerland, where she studied. The city of Gallen opened it in 1993. He worked with one of the famous curators of the country, Harald Kunde, in his second exhibition, which he opened in Aachen, Germany, where he went to study medicine. Düren, who came to Istanbul after his years in Germany, did not Decamp from his art studies during his residency studies in psychiatry and continued to Istanbul Mimar Sinan University Sculpture Department as a guest student. Düren, who is the founder and president of the Culture, Art and Nature Association, which aims to develop art in rural regions of Turkey, has been continuing his plastic art and installation oriented works professionally since 2007. In his art, he cares about creating a dialogue between historical buildings and his works. Dec. One of the examples of this approach, the exhibition he held at Haydarpaşa Station, remained open for a year and became the longest-running exhibition in the history of the station, and “Saltwater” was included in the Istanbul Biennial. In this context, Düren also stands out with its identity as a biennial artist.

The artist, who recently transformed the historical Tarhan Han into an exhibition space, is hosting his exhibition titled Verwegenheit, which has been running here for six months. The Verwegenheit exhibition also embarks on an international journey. The “Black Abstractions” section of the exhibition will meet the audience with a new edition scheduled to open soon at the Palazzo San Clemente located on San Clemente Island in Venice.

Haydarpaşa Station Installation Video,

https://youtu.be/FHd-hqbg-Ys?si=iH-nD9cG2RyDCi9Z

Tarhan Khan Verwegenheit Exhibition,

https://youtu.be/-D9d0CIZohA

*Our art meetings are free for our members, 500 TL for guests and 250 TL for children under the age of 12. For your guests, we ask that they be deposited to our association account as a donation before the trip. 

Tuesday April 8th

12:00-13:00

Address: Kemer Country Golf, Forest Houses Korutolu No:143 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/WMaKRZEVH9pZBEgd6?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

10 As the Art Association for Good. we are excited to enter our year. In this special year, we would like to share the thoughts and experiences of our artists who contribute to our projects on our social media accounts.

Our request from you is that you shoot a vertical format and high-definition video in which you tell about your journey with our association and what our projects have contributed to you. We kindly ask you to share your video with us as a Google Drive link. We are unable to receive files via email at the moment due to technical glitches, so it is very important that you send a private Drive link.

We will ask you to share your video with us by 16.00 tomorrow. Thank you in advance for your contributions.

Love,

Hicran Aksöz

Association Coordinator

We are visiting the artist Mustafa Orkun Müftüoğlu at our 499th Art Meeting.

Born in Trabzon in 1973, Mustafa Orkun Müftüoğlu was a BA in the Painting Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Mimar Sinan University between 1990-1995, and a research assistant in the Painting Department at the same faculty between 1998-2006. He currently continues his duty as a professor.

Mustafa Orkun visualizes all these realities we experience in his works with symbolic, sometimes romantic and sometimes fantastic approaches. Human phenomena such as ambition, desire, fear, hope and weakness emerge as the reason for existence of his works. While creating the language and form of painting, Mustafa Orkun moves on the axis of reason, while adding emotion and intuition to the fictions he creates, he reaches a synthesis by making his own subject felt in his art.

The artist, who has participated in many exhibitions both domestically and internationally, continues his work in his studio in Istanbul.

*Our art meetings are free for our members, 500 TL for guests, and 250 TL for children under 12. We kindly ask that your guests deposit a donation to our association account before the trip.

Tuesday, March 25

12:00-13:00

Address: Meşrutiyet Mahallesi Kevser Sokak Özlem Apartmanı No:45 Flat:7 Osmanbey/Şişli

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In our 498th Art Meeting, we are visiting the Lale - Cengiz Akıncı Collection at the Istanbul Painting and Sculpture Museum.

The seven hundred piece collection donated by Lale and Cengiz Akıncı to the Istanbul Painting and Sculpture Museum (İRHM) in 2023 includes works of art from the 19th century to the 21st century. The collection, which Cengiz Akıncı began to create with the works of the period artists that his mother, the famous painter Naile Akıncı, a graduate of the State Fine Arts Academy, gave to him when he was only 16 years old, has developed over half a century and consists mainly of figurative and abstract works representing different periods from the 1930s to the present, printmaking, patterns that bring together different techniques, sculpture, ceramics and glass works.

The Dimension Difference Exhibition, which includes selected works from Lale-Cengiz Akıncı’s collections spanning many years and which were deemed worthy of the “Collector Honor Award” at the TÜYAP 19th International Art Fair, draws attention with its rich variety of paintings, sculptures, ceramics and glass works that the artists have produced by going beyond their own fields of production. Curated by Dr. Ali Kayaalp, the exhibition allows the development of Turkish plastic arts from the Early Republican period to the present day to be followed in a historical context.

Focusing on sculptures, ceramics and glass works, the exhibition aims to establish connections between the paintings in the collection and invites visitors to an artistic journey in different dimensions. The two-dimensional narrative that began with only paintings in the first exhibition titled “Artı700”, which opened in 2023, is carried to the world of volumes in the third dimension with this exhibition. Reflecting the richness and diversity of the collection brought together by the Akıncı couple, the exhibition tells a story of collecting as well as presents the lesser-known aspects of Turkish art to the audience with rare examples.

The exhibition also includes the work “Pano” by Atilla Galatalı, one of the founders of ceramic art in Turkey, for which he won first prize at the 3rd International Ceramics Biennial held in Vallauris, France in 1972. The work “Pano” won the award at the biennial where Pablo Picasso was the head of the jury.

In Dimension Difference, Halil Pasha, Ibrahim Calli, Sami Yetik, Feyhaman Duran, Huseyin Gezer, Zeki Kocamemi, Ali Avni Celebi, Hale Asaf, Zuhtu Muridoglu, Leopold Levy, Nuri Iyem, Ismail Hakki Oygar, Hakki Izet, Vedat Ar, Avni Arbas, Zeki Faik Izer, Burhan Uygur, Naile Akinci, Esref Uren, Nes'e Erdok, Tiraje Dikmen, Eren Eyuboglu, Bedri Rahmi Eyuboglu, Neset Gunal, Sukriye Dikmen, Kuzgun Acar, Turan Erol, Fethi Arda, Adnan Turani, Fethi Kayaalp, Leyla Gamsiz, Tulin Ayta, Attila Galatali, Ruzin Galatali Gercin, Alev Ebuzziya, Bingul Basarir, Omur Bakirer, Devrim Erbil, Meric Hizal, Works by pioneers such as Rahmi Aksungur, Melike Abasıyanık Kurtiç, Jale Yılmabaşar and Füreya Koral are presented to us. We will tour the collection with a guide.

*Our art meetings are free for our members, 500 TL for guests and 250 TL for children over the age of 12. We kindly ask that your guests make a donation to our association account before the tour.

Tuesday, March 18

12:00-13:00

Address: Kılıçali Paşa, Meclis-i Mebusan Caddesi No:6, Beyoğlu

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