KEMAL SEYHAN (B. 1960)

Painted in 2012, Untitled evokes the historic wooden floorboards of Kemal Seyhan’s nineteenth-century studio in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. The deep red palette and wide, layered brushstrokes allow the artist to explore the four elements of his artistic mantra: horizontality, verticality, colour and intensification. The vibrant vertical boards in the present painting are met with an underpainted wash running perpendicularly—together they create a patchwork of colour and texture that recalls both wooden grain and the red banner of the Turkish flag. Untitled acts as an homage to both the fabric of the artist’s own studio, which he left in the same year of the painting’s execution, and to the intrinsic cultural heritage of the Rumeli Han building which he inhabited.

Kemal Seyhan was born in Kayseri, Turkey in 1960 and lives and works between Salzburg, Austria and Istanbul, Turkey. Following his BA in Sociology, Art History and Philosophy, Seyhan received his MA at Academy of Fina Arts Vienna in Austria. His work is held in public and private collections including Ferdinandeum, Tiroler State Museum, Innsbruck; Arch Driend Collection, Vienna; Die Roland Madesta, Nürnberg; Istanbul Modern Museum, Istanbul and Museum Evliyagil, Ankara. The artist is represented by Pi Artworks, London and Istanbul.