New art gallery opens doors with ‘Surprise Me’

ISTANBUL

The newly opened Futy Art Gallery in Istanbul will celebrate its launch with a preview of painter and academic Seval Özcan’s first solo painting exhibition titled "Surprise Me" on Sept. 13.

The gallery will welcome art lovers with a special opening and host various exhibitions throughout the year.

In a statement regarding her exhibition "Surprise Me," which will run through Oct. 3, Özcan remarked: “In people's busy lives nowadays, everything passes by quickly without being noticed. The book 'My Sweet Orange Tree' by Jose Mauro De Vasconcelos mentions that nothing surprises us. Now we are in a time when there are many moments like this. Life is full of journeys that we experience in such a fast flow. Every journey starts from the past. I started my own artistic journey from the past, from the motifs in my childhood memories and from unique natural dyes. My aim is to build a bridge from the past to the future that is hard to destroy through my works."

“We all need to see, notice and be surprised a bit. That's why I named my first solo exhibition ‘Surprise Me.’ My goal is to bring this exhibition together with audiences in various countries in different series. I believe that it will be an exhibition where we will all be surprised by the art and colors. I invite you to look at life through my kaleidoscope. Together, we will notice the gaps that are the essence of life and give them meaning with moments and memories. With my exhibition, I create a space for the audience and art lovers to breathe through my works in the rush of today's world, and I invite them to question and fill the gaps in my works with their own truths and lives through motifs from their own realities and memories,” she added.

Özcan says that the digital works in her exhibition all originate from her own creations and have meaningful stories behind them. “Listening to and observing the world of young people is very important to me. The new generation wants to be a part of your work, to become one with it,” she added.

The digital artworks in the exhibition are projected onto the wall screens and create more immersive spatial experiences for the viewer. The sound system sponsor of the exhibition is a global brand, Bang & Olufsen. There are also VR virtual glasses in the exhibition.

“In my solo exhibition, viewers of all ages will be able to meet my work through digital glasses and experience it interactively,” Özcan said.

In an introduction to the exhibition, art historian and curator Professor Marcus Graf said: “The current state of Özcan’s works is a good example of the multi-layered structure of contemporary abstract art. The artist builds a bridge between the past and the present by bringing together various aesthetic approaches from all art forms and integrating classical motifs into her compositions.”

Seval Özcan

Born in 1983 in Istanbul, Özcan graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Communication and Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts. She completed her master’s and Ph.D. degrees at the Institute of Fine Arts, Marmara University, and is currently a lecturer at Medipol University.

She has lived in the United Kingdom and Italy for a period and received training in television programming, presenting and effective presentation techniques.

Her works were exhibited at the 12th Contemporary Istanbul, and her works have been featured in numerous national and international exhibitions and fairs. As part of the Turkish Red Crescent’s 150th-anniversary events, her work titled “Blue Moon/Blue Lunar” was exhibited at the 3rd edition of Artweeks@ Akaretler at Galeri Baraz, in the Hilâl-i Ahmer Collection, an awareness project that combines art and humanitarian aid. Her works were also showcased at the Art Brussel International Contemporary Art Fair in Brussels and the Milan Art Fair in Italy.

Additionally, her work “No.3: Past, Present, Future” was featured in the exhibition organized by the TÜSIAD European Union Representation in Brussels.ISTANBUL

In 2024, Seval Özcan participated in the Artweeks Istanbul event with her work titled “No 11” at Merkur Gallery.