Burhan Uygur

Who is Burhan Uygur? (1940 Tirebolu – 1992 Istanbul)

He completed his secondary and high school education in Trabzon. In 1961, he graduated from the Bedri Rahmi Eyüpoğlu Workshop of the State Academy of Fine Arts, which is now Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, in February 1969.

In 1968, while he was still a student at the academy; The artist, who opened his first exhibition at Beyoğlu Art Gallery, studied with the painter Corneille at the Salzburg Summer Academy with an Austrian state scholarship in 1970. He also opened a street exhibition in the Netherlands. He did not receive the attention he expected in his first exhibition in 1968, but in the same year he won the title of “Young Painter of the Year” in the competition organized by the Contemporary Painters Society.

“He didn’t like rules. He thought they limited him. But he was disciplined at the same time. He didn’t fit into the mold. He would go out at night whenever the mood blew. In fact, it didn’t matter day or night for him. I believe this can be seen in his works.” says Vesile Uygur about her husband Burhan Uygur.
Uygur used even the most ordinary object as a figure in his paintings, regardless of subject. He reflected his own experiences and inner world to the audience with the notes he attached to his paintings. He used different techniques and materials in his works.
Traces of the bohemian life he led throughout his life and the lyrical approach he developed can be seen in Burhan Uygur’s paintings. Uygur, who was a uniquely lively person for his friends, always depicted the people around him with a delicate sensitivity in his works, and the stains he created with the light use of brushes turned into symbolic elements over time. As the figures in Uygur’s paintings pass through the artist’s own inner universe and change form, they come to life not only on the canvas but also in different objects. The names of his paintings and exhibitions always contained poetic flavours, he sent greetings to the verses of his favorite poets with his paintings, he lived to his heart’s content, he painted what he lived, he wanted to live what he painted.