A Retrospective of Yüksel Arslan

The first retrospective exhibition of Yüksel Arslan, one of the world’s most exceptional 20th Century artists, opened at santralistanbul in September 2009 with the main sponsorship of Garanti Bank.

The exhibition presenting over five hundred of the artist’s works compiled from collections around the world and Turkey, along with supporting texts, photographs and records that explicate the aspects which shape his world of thought, imagination and painting, is curated by Levent Yılmaz with the sponsorship of Garanti Bank. The exhibition was open for viewing at santralistanbul for seven months from September 13, 2009 through March 21, 2010.

While the exhibition intends to trace and display to the viewers the resources which have influenced the work and world of thought of the artist who lives in Paris since 1961, a panel discussion entitled “Testimonials” will be organised, and “Wednesday Talks” which will host names such as Cevat Çapan, Mete Tunçay and Ferda Keskin took place throughout the duration of the exhibition.

The “Yüksel Arslan Retrospective” to be exhibited in santralistanbul comprises the artist’s pre- and post-Arture works since the 1950s. Works from series “Artur(c)s”, “The Capital”, “An Attempt at Updating The Capital”, “Influences”, “Autoartures”, “Man”, and "New Influences", a selection from the thousands of drawings he made while creating these series, and documents involving persons who bear importance in the shaping of the his artistic approach and intellectual world (letters, documents and photographs documenting his closeness with Edouard Roditi, Jean Dubuffet, Roland Topor, Orhan Duru, Ferit Edgü...) was shown together for the first time. Extensive photographs showing Arslan’s working/living space was also presented within the context of this exhibition. Not having returned to Turkey since 1969, Arslan came to Istanbul after 40 years to attend the opening event of the ever-most comprehensive retrospective exhibition hosted by santralistanbul.