Mehmet Güleryüz

"Quai Aux Fleurs" exhibition hosted at Parisian gallery Cyril Guernieri

This "Quai aux Fleurs" is the story of an encounter. That of flayed characters painted with a knife by Mehmet Güleryüz, tossed in the ocean of life, but who will end up finding themselves against all odds. It is also a proof of artistic and pictorial cohesion between the Turkish artist and the Parisian gallery owner Cyril Guernieri. Just three years after his "Garden of Complaints", this key figure on the Turkish art scene is once again taking over 29 rue Mazarine to exhibit his latest works. A selection of his most moving creations, handpicked from among the thousand and one treasures created by the painter over the past two years, living traces of the successive confinements spent in the shadow of his Parisian studio. At the dawn of his 84th birthday, the indefatigable Güleryüz still displays his insomnia on the canvas, casting his moods on each of them ten to fifteen hours in a row. The result is there: dark and carnal, feverish and scary. Heir to the German expressionists, the work of Mehmet Güleryüz worries as much as it fascinates. For more than 60 years, the painter has explored the depths of the human soul without sketches or preparatory drawings, following his most primary instinct, guided by the sole force of his incisive and cutting line. A masterful exhibition featuring an artist of immense talent.

Excerpt from "Arts in the City" exhibition article, May 2022