Ömer Uluç - Turkish Painting Association - UK- Headquartered in London

Who is Ömer Uluç?

After graduating from Robert College in 1953, he studied engineering and then painting in the United States between 1953 and 1957. He took part in the group called “Attic Painters”, founded in 1953 under the leadership of Nuri İyem. He spent a year in London and Paris in 1965, in the USA and Mexico in 1972-1973, and in Nigeria between 1973-1977.

The artist, who has been living in Paris since 1983, spent a significant part of the year in Istanbul. He opened many exhibitions at home and abroad, especially in Paris, Berlin and Istanbul. He participated in many biennials. The artist, who did not limit himself only to canvas painting, contributed to Turkish art by producing many works of art using different materials.

In 2005, his book, which he named “Enthusiasm Bird Durmaz Döner” with a quote from Baki and started with “Fragments” selected from his own speech recordings and designed the pages as an exhibition space, was published by Yapı Kredi publications as a new work, a new exhibition. The artist, who opened his first solo exhibition in Boston in 1955, says in a passage of this work:

“In 1958, I am 27 years old. Nuri İyem, Ferruh Başağa, dear İlhan Koman, Şadi Çalık and I are opening a big exhibition at the American consulate that will be remembered for a while. It’s all abstract art. They are all my friends and they are all people at least 15-20 years older than me. There, alone and strangely, I became a small celebrity for the second time in Istanbul, in that area. But let me tell you who did the most interesting work, Şadi Çalık, puts a single stick on a pedestal and calls it “minimumism”, that is how he explains it. Minimum energy, minimum form, minimum meaning, etc. “Is Istanbul becoming a small avant-garde center like the Moscow and Munich of the past?” he said.

Ömer Uluç, who spent his last days in Istanbul and wrote a note of Lucretius' words: "Where there is death, I am not there/Where I am, there is no death" next to his charcoal self-portrait in his last exhibition titled "The Chemistry of Disintegration", was undergoing severe lung cancer treatment for two years. He never stopped his production. He died in Istanbul on January 28, 2010, at the age of 79, leaving behind hundreds of works of art. The funeral prayer was performed at the Bebek Mosque and he was buried in the Aşiyan Cemetery after the participation of Ertuğrul Günay, the then Minister of Tourism, and many names from the business and art community.

From Personal Exhibitions
1955 Earl Pigram Gallery, Boston USA (First solo exhibition)
1957 German Cultural Center, Istanbul
1965 Galerie Lissabon, The Hague
1966 Galerie La Rove, Paris
1970 Gallery 1, Istanbul
1978 Maçka Art Gallery, Istanbul
1980 Evrensel Art Gallery, Ankara
1982 Maçka Art Gallery, Istanbul
1985 Galeri Nev, Ankara
1986 Galerie Jean Claude Riedel, Paris
1988 Maçka Art Gallery, Istanbul
1989 Espace Vendome, Paris
1990 Derimod Cultural Center, Istanbul
1991 Galeri Nev, Ankara
1991 Pulchri Studio, The Hague
1992 Lebendiges Museum, Berlin
1993 Arkeon Art Gallery, Istanbul
1994 Atatürk Cultural Center, Istanbul
1994 Gallery Montenay, Paris
1995 Atatürk Cultural Center, Istanbul
1997 Yapı Kredi Kazım Taşkent gallery, Istanbul
1998Gallery Montenay, Paris
1999Yapı Kredi Kazım Taşkent Gallery, Istanbul
2001 Trans Hudson gallery New York
2002 A B C D Sea Jinns Istanbul
2003 Yapı Kredi Bank Kazım Taşkent Gallery Ankara
2004 Art of This Century New York
2006 Mac Art Gallery, Istanbul
2007 Black and White Art Gallery Ankara
2007 Gallery Nev Ankara
2007 Red Andic Bird Art Gallery, Alaçatı
2009 Beylerbeyi Palace Istanbul
2009 Yapı Kredi Kazım Taşkent Art Gallery, Right Hand, Left Hand Patterns exhibition
Some of His Works
1969 Killing, 1969 Child on the Pavement, 1970 Green and Yellow Person, 1970 Figure of a Child, 1971 Nude with Open Arms, 1976 African Queen I, III, 1983 Island, 1985 Tanker, 1987 Sorcerer, 1987 Nude