After his last exhibition "A Cyclical Odyssey" at Tophane-i Amire, Süleyman Saim Tekcan is back with another project entitled "The Horses, Ottoman Calligraphy and Süleymanname."
Conceptualized by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) Culture Co. and consisting of 30-year-old sculptures and gravures (engravings) by artist Süleyman Saim Tekcan, the exhibition is on display at the Şerefiye (Theodosius) Cistern until Jan. 7, 2019.
Curated by Mehmet Lütfi Şen, the exhibition's installation was done by Ömer Aydın, Hamza Algül and Delan Atasayar.
The exhibition offers a special selection of the artist's sculptures and gravures in the splendid and mystical atmosphere of the Şerefiye Cistern, which dates back 1,600 years.
Art reflected in waters
The show which was specially designed to be exhibited at the Şerefiye Cistern, with Ottoman calligraphy engraved on the details of horse sculptures and horse gravures. The gravures are integrated with the walls of the cistern, 3D works reflected on the water and splendid frames arising from these works with shades overlapping the walls will offer a unique experience to visitors.
Modified 'horse' image
This comprehensive project exhibition reinterprets the image of horses that dates back to Turkish history and roots with contemporary art and diversifies the classical images of horses. Duplicated via reflections on the cistern water, the contemporary horses and Ottoman calligraphy transform with their shades and are integrated into the ancient walls of the cistern.
About Süleyman Saim Tekcan
Born in Trabzon province in 1940, the artist graduated from the Gazi University Institute of Educational Sciences, Department of Art Teaching in 1963. Completing his B.A. at Mimar Sinan University Faculty of Fine Arts Painting, Tekcan earned a proficiency in art at the same university.
He served as an academic at Atatürk University Faculty of Educational Sciences between 1968 and 1975. In 1970, he conducted research on lithography in Germany for a year. In 1975, he was accepted to the Mimar Sinan University Faculty of Fine Arts as academic staff where he assumed the title of professor in 1985 as the head of Graphic Arts.
He conducted workshops on characteristic lithography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia and Bilkent University in Ankara.
In 1991, he gave two conferences entitled "12 Artists in Turkish Art of Graphics" and "A Section on Contemporary Turkish Painting" in Bonn, Germany.
Between the years of 1994 and 1995, he served both as the Dean of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University and the Head of the Graphic Arts Department. In 1996, he founded the Yeditepe University Faculty of Fine Arts, which began education classes on Istanbul's Prince Islands and served as dean in the faculty's first year.
In 2007, he served as the founder-dean of the Işık University Faculty of Fine Arts. In 2008, Tekcan became a judge at the 1st International Characteristic Lithograph Biennial. The artist has also been the board chairman of the Istanbul Graphic Arts Museum (IMOGA) since 2004.