Mehmet Güleryüz

Mehmet Güleryüz was born in Istanbul in 1938 and died in Paris on September 3, 2024. The artist, who is the child of a family of Georgian origin, left important traces in both painting and theater. After completing his primary and high school education at Saint Benoit French High School, he entered the Painting Department of Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts (today known as Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University) in 1958.

Güleryüz, who completed his graduation at the top of his class after four years of education, was also interested in theater in parallel with his academic life and started acting professionally at the Arena Theater under the direction of Asaf Çiğiltepe in 1963. In the same year, he stepped into the art world by opening his first personal exhibition, focusing on patterns.

He continued to develop his art in Paris, where he won a state scholarship in 1966. Here he worked on lithography and high painting techniques, and attempted his first sculpture experiments with his performances at the Pont des Arts. When he returned to Turkey in 1975, he worked as a lecturer at the academy he graduated from for five years.

He moved to New York in 1980 and stayed there until 1984, then returned to Istanbul in 1985 and started teaching art in his own workshop. He started publishing the art magazine "Kalın" in 1986, and in 1988 he presented his twenty-five years of art experience to the audience with his first retrospective exhibition at Galeri Nev. He realized special series for Ankara Sheraton Hotel and Polat Rönesans Hotel in 1991 and 1992.

The artist won his legal battle by applying to the Council of State for the annulment of his "State Artist" title in 1998, and the titles were returned in 2000. His understanding of art focuses on the fluidity of images and the difficulty of their visual existence. As Levent Çalıkoğlu stated, Güleryüz's works are nourished by the tension in painting the ghostly images that appear in the memory.

The artist's works bear the traces of this imaginary tension both on a two-dimensional surface and in three-dimensional sculpture form.

Güleryüz, who continued his work in his workshop in Paris since 2013, ended his life due to cancer. The artist, who was deemed worthy of many awards throughout his artistic life, received important recognitions such as the 1966 Graduation Competition First Prize and the 1979 Sedat Simavi Foundation Award.