Gazi Sansoy

The Secret of Beauty

Turkish artist Gazi Sansoy has been fascinated by the portraits of the renaissance for many years.
The elegant Simonetta Vespucci from Florence was seen as the embodiment of Italian beauty during this period, and was painted by some of the most famous artists of the era. Sandro Botticelli, for example, declared her to be his muse and glorified her as the Roman goddess Venus. Piero di Cosimo portrayed her as Cleopatra wearing a necklace of snakes. Her depiction was therefore more through idealistic images than realistic portraits, and she became the source of myth and fantasy. The Italians named here “Regina della belezza”: Queen of beauty.

Is beauty merely an illusion? Gazi Sansoy provokes the viewer with a deceptive transformation of our optical frames of reference. He replaces the feminine lines of his subject’s faces with powerful areas of colour. Only the form of the female figure remains, with its now secretive appearance. The solemnly clothed body provides the ideal cover as we search longingly for that perfect beauty.  

The result is a surface that can be used for plays on emotion and colour. We do not see what we are looking for, but rather what we dream of. Through their reproduction and colourful transformation, the well-known muses take on a new, heavily deceptive presence, one that is full of surprises. The image space is now free for someone else to occupy, someone the viewers can find themselves.

Gazi Sansoy describes himself as both a painter and “visitor” to his images. For his unique artistic experiment he has taken over an entire epoch, lacing it with new meaning. The palette of the 15th Century, styled in natural tones, meets the glaring colours of pop art. A time window emerges, through which we look deep into a vacuum of adventure.  

Christina Wendenburg

Solo Exhibitions

2012	No Name Silhouettes, Art 350, Istanbul, Turkey
2011	Faceless, İlayda Art Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2010	Miniature Pop Series 2010 – Gazi Sansoy, Studio Exhibition (Online Exhibition)
	Miniature Pop 2010″ – Gazi Sansoy, Contemporary Istanbul 2010, Utopia Platform (Online Exhibition)
2004/2005/2006	Gallery Artist, Cukurcuma, Istanbul, Turkey
2004	Taksim Art Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2001	Galetea Art Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
1997	Çırağan Hotel Kempinsky, Istanbul, Turkey
1995	Sculpture Stıudio Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey

Group Exhibitions

2009	Contemporary Istanbul, Ütopya Paltform Art Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
	Contemporary Turkish Print Artists, Engraving Exhibition, Technohoros Gallery, Athens, Greece
2008	Ütopya Paltform Art Gallery, Contemporaray Istanbul Art Fair, Istanbul, Turkey
2007	Ütopya Paltform Art Gallery, ArtIstanbul Art Fair, Istanbul, Turkey
2006	32nd DYO Painting Competition Exhibition, Istanbul, Turkey
2005	Association of Chemist, 50th Anniversary Photograph and Painting Competition, Ankara, Turkey
	State Painting Exhibition, Ankara, Turkey
	From Our and From Their, Gallery Tem, Istanbul, Turkey
2004	Art Istanbul, Gallery Artist Çukurcuma Standı, Istanbul, Turkey
2003	Küyad Art Gallery, Maltepe, Istanbul, Turkey
	State Painting Exhibition, Ankara, Turkey
2000/2001/2002	From Our and From Their, Gallery Tem, Istanbul, Turkey
1999	State Painting Exhibition, Ankara, Turkey
	Turkcell Painting Competition Exhibition, Istanbul, Turkey
1997/1998	Caccho Zanchi Art Gallery, Belgium
1996	Austrian Culture Center, Tarabya, Istanbul, Turkey
1994/1995	State Original Print Exhibition, Ankara, Turkey
1994	Sculpture Stıudio Gallery, Ortaköy, Istanbul, Turkey
1993	BP Young Artist Exhibition, Istanbul, Turkey
	Kocaeli Municipality Painting Exhibition, Turkey
	French Culture Center, Istanbul, Turkey
1992	Kadıköy Caddebostan Culture Center, Istanbul, Turkey