Murat Çelik’in retrospektif sergisi, Hangar Sanat Oluşumu’nun üstlenmesiyle açıldı

Painter, one of the Hangar artists we lost in 2017 Murat IronA retrospective exhibition was opened in Ankara – Çankaya Doğan Taşdelen Contemporary Arts Center Osman Hamdi Bey Exhibition Hall. At the exhibition, which will be open to the public from May 5 to 30, 2023, almost 70 works of the artist are on display. The artistic formation Hangar took over the responsibility of the exhibition.

Murat Çelik, as an artist, creates works in fields such as photography and installations, although his main discipline is painting. The artist reflected his subjects, the spiritual tides of the marginalized and marginalized individual through his own personal myth in his works with metaphorical images of the city and the object.

Hangar Art Formation artists Cebrail Ötgün, Cezmi Orhan and Atilla İlkyaz, Murat Çelik In the text they prepared about the artist, they summarized the artist’s critical view, artistic language, thematic determinations and artistic adventure as follows:

“If we sum up our friend, the artist and academic Murat Çelik, in a sentence or two, we can say that one of the professions he enjoys the most is creative activity and the experience of the sharing process. It is difficult to describe his excitement at such gatherings. He could not stand still, as if his cells had regenerated. Many times we went to Murat’s workshop to share his new painting with us, even at night, regardless of the weather. It would not be an exaggeration to say that “deeply feeling” all his experiences suited him best. He always rejected clichés and chose to live personally, honestly, impartially, spontaneously, for which he had little acceptance and few friends.

This time we are holding an exhibition and publishing activity without him, but about him. Although we share his excitement, we also share his sadness.

In Murat’s adventure in Ankara and Hangar, the holistic aspect of both periods was his experimental attitude and his relationship to personal or found objects and their spaces. The processes of the maturation of the artist’s identity in the hangar, the reflection of his sharp, critical and emotionally charged reactions (as we live to witness) are also visible in the positioning of his paintings in this exhibition. We especially draw your attention to the contradictory realities that pervade the eddies and streets of Mersin, his determinations sometimes through photographs and sometimes objects, and how he enthusiastically reflects them on the adventure of color with striking visual reflections. At the same time, in some pictures you can see indications of how the city affects a person psychodramatically. From collage to assemblage, personal or social connections with the objects he chooses and painting adventure are the dynamics of Murat’s artistic style.

We hope that this effort will help those interested to determine the historical value of Murat’s works that will stand the test of time. Collectively experiencing his works, focusing on the details woven openly or secretly brought us new discoveries, and this will undoubtedly continue in the future.

Murat Çelik’s artistic pursuits, thoughts, contradictions and positives are included from time to time in very few sources other than verbal memories. To name a few of them: Çelik wrote in an essay in 1992, “Is re-sim-ge-seller done??” he asks. It is clear that the effect of this aphorism is strong both according to the social, political and cultural conditions of the period in which it was uttered, and when it is evaluated in each new period, its effect becomes stronger.

The topic he dealt with in the nineties, when he started his artistic career, and which Murat did not give up in his artistic adventure: “My facility is threatening me” is a title whose meaning grows day by day. Theme It shows how fragile people have become in their relationship with technology today, and perhaps in the future.

“In a world where crudeness is so intense, a sensitive artist cannot paint a flower in a vase.“We think this statement he made in 1993 gives the essence of Murat’s artistic thinking.”

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Murat Çelik, who was born in Çorum in 1966 and completed his primary and secondary education here, completed his undergraduate studies at the Painting Department of Gazi University in 1991 and his MA in 1995 at the Painting Department of the Social Sciences Institute of Hacettepe University.

He worked as a lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Mersin University from 1995 to 2017. In addition to the workshop classes, he led the Photography class at the college.

Murat Çelik was one of the founders of the Hangar art formation and one of the important artists who made Hangar possible.

In addition to the hangar activity, he opened 6 solo exhibitions and participated in many national and international group exhibitions.

In 2008, he was among the founders of Mersin Marinavista Contemporary Art Environments with Veli Mert. The same team continued the “Intellectual Practice in Art with Celal Soycan” series of meetings between 2009-2017.

The artist is a prize winner of the State painting and sculpture competition in 1993, the ACS painting competition in 1998 and the Environmental Foundation painting competition in 2001.

His works can be found in the State Museum of Painting and Sculpture in Ankara, Hacettepe University Art Museum, Gazi University Museum of Painting and Sculpture and many private collections.