"A View of Amasra from Ankara" Painting Exhibition

The painting exhibition entitled “A View of Amasra from Ankara”, organised as part of Amasra Municipality’s Cultural and Arts Events, opened at the hall of Amasra Museum on 29 October, Republic Day. The exhibition, made up of works by members of the painting studio group of Erkan GENİŞ — born in Bartın, his mother from Bartın, his father from Kurucaşile — presented 35 paintings to visitors. All the works carried traces of life from the shores of Amasra and Bartın: boats, fishermen, images of the Bartın River and the coastline of Kurucaşile. Erkan GENİŞ says that it is essential for the painters who work in his studio “to paint Amasra successfully.” And this exhibition was indeed an event at which such successful works could be admired. The exhibition was supported by Bartın Governor İsa KÜÇÜK with an Amasra poem and a fine, meaningful speech, and opened in the presence of Bartın Members of Parliament Rıza YALÇINKAYA and Yılmaz TUNÇ, Amasra District Governor Mehmet YILDIZ, Amasra Mayor Emin TİMUR, and many art lovers.

“On arriving in Amasra, Freedom meets you on the road. You mount a blue horse.”

“On this Republic Day, as we celebrate the 88th anniversary of the founding of our Republic, I thank Mr Geniş and his colleagues for opening an exhibition of Amasra paintings in Amasra. Art is the most important face of modern Turkey. Art was one aspect of the dreams and ideals of the great Atatürk in placing Turkey at the level of contemporary civilisations; Science was another dimension. To be sought after, admired and valued in every field of life, in every corner of the world — this is of great importance. On the 88th anniversary of the Turkish Republic, we must speak of this as Turkish children. In the countries of North Africa and the Middle East, today those peoples are fighting and struggling for the values that the great Atatürk achieved 88 years ago — for freedom, for democracy, for national sovereignty, and for a better, more beautiful world. These were the things to speak of on the 88th anniversary of the Republic. Our distinguished artists, here in Amasra, Bartın, enable us to do so. Mr Geniş’s paintings are sought after throughout the world. This is what it means to be sought after: a modern Turkey, a modern Bartın, and the modern Turkish person. I congratulate them.”

Erkan GENİŞ was born in Bartın in 1943. He received his painting education in the atelier of Hikmet Onat. In his Ankara studio he conveys his accumulated knowledge to new generations through a nine-month education programme, spending three summer months in his Vienna studio, producing works represented in galleries in various European cities. He has undertaken both theoretical studies and studio work at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and the Salzburg Summer Academy. His works are distributed across collections in 18 different countries; in addition to the many joint exhibitions in which he has participated at home and abroad, he has held 37 solo exhibitions. The artist’s works are displayed in 5 separate museums in Turkey, including the Museum of Painting and Sculpture, and in 2 museums in Austria.

Members of the Erkan Geniş Painting Studio group who participated in the exhibition with their works:

Werner GRUBER (TOBB Europe Desk Director),

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahu GRUBER (Faculty Member, TOBB University Faculty of Business Administration),

Prof. Dr. Tuncay BİRAND (Vice-Rector, METU),

Prof. Dr. Tevfik AKTÜRK (Faculty Member, Ankara University Medical Faculty, ENT Department),

Prof. Dr. Metin AKINER (Faculty Member, Ankara University Medical Faculty),

Prof. Dr. Şükran ŞAHİN (Faculty Member, Faculty of Agriculture, Landscape Architecture Department),

Özlem ÖZGÜ (Faculty Member, Bilkent University, Computer Science Department),

Seher GÜVEN (Faculty Member, Başkent University, English Language Department),

Hüsamettin ESEN (Ret. General, Portakal Çiçeği Construction, General Manager),

Müge MAMIKOĞLU (Art Teacher, METU College),

Zeliha DOĞAN (Legal Adviser, Treasury General Directorate),

Özge AFACAN (R&D Director, ASELSAN),

Sedat BALAK (Deputy Under-Secretary, Ministry of Industry),

Tarık ÖZMEN (Director of Parliamentary Services, Grand National Assembly of Turkey)

For information about Erkan Geniş: http://www.erkangenis.com

Studio description in Erkan Geniş’s own words:

“Work has been continuing in our studio since 1999. Our oil painting work is carried out within a programme supported by theory, technique and drawing. Our system is a body of work based on a staged painting method, in which pictorial elements are absorbed; it aims to help colleagues favouring different techniques and schools within their own styles, and guides beginners to paint well with a sound base of knowledge and technical equipment. Over the past 12 years, around 700 colleagues have attended or continue to attend courses in our studio. A great many colleagues who have stayed with us since our opening continue to do so. This is because our endeavour to maintain a family atmosphere in the studio profile is the main reason for this interest. The great praise our year-end exhibitions receive from art circles — being described as ‘not a studio exhibition but a professional mixed exhibition’ — is the greatest reward for us. The main point we take great care over is that our studio should remain an artistic home rather than a commercial establishment. For this reason you will find no advertisements, announcements or the like anywhere about us. Our aim is to be with friends who adapt to the general spirit of the studio, who perceive painting as a fine art and wish to go to its essence, and who cherish our togetherness in the atmosphere of love and respect we have created.”