Mehmet Güleryüz

Mehmet Güleryüz was born in Istanbul in 1938. After completing high school, he was accepted in 1958 into the Painting Department of the Istanbul State Fine Arts Academy, from which he graduated in 1966 as first of his class. Beginning in 1958, he studied theatre as an actor at the Haldun Dormen Cep Theatre, the Güner Sümer Z-Scene, the Academy Theatre and the Beklan Algan Acting Studio. He began his professional acting career in 1963 at the Arena Theatre, directed by Asaf Çiğiltepe. Between 1970 and 1975, he studied in Paris with a state scholarship, especially on Painting and Lithography. From 1975 to 1980, he taught at the Painting Department of the Istanbul State Fine Arts Academy. In 1980, he resigned, and lived in New York from 1980 to 1984. In 1984, he was in Brussels where he sculpted and prepared prints, returning to Istanbul in 1985. From 1985 to the end of 2000, he taught art at BİLSAK. In 1986, he began to publish Kalın, an art magazine. In 1988, he held a retrospective exhibit of his work of the previous 25 years. Between 1990 and 1995, he wrote the interview feature, Güleryüz’lü Sohbetler (Smiling Conversations) at Votre Beauté magazine. In 1991, he painted the “Counter Wind” series, made up of 14 paintings, for the Atrium of the Ankara Sheraton Hotel. Between 1991 and 1992, he was Founding Chairman of the International Plastic Arts Association. In 1992, he taught at Bilkent University as guest artist. At the same year, he produced a 7-painting series for the lobby of the Polat Renaissance Hotel. In 1995, he visited occupied Bosnia, within the “Humanitarian Initiative for Bosnia”. Between 1998 and 2001, he was guest actor at the Istanbul State Theatre, in the play, “Looking for an Aged Clown for a Small Job”. He has been the president of IAA Turkey since 2000; he was the Vice president of the European IAA and member of the World IAA executive committee between 2002 and 2005. He has held many exhibitions not only in Turkey but also in abroad, and won many awards.

Reference: mehmetguleryuz.com; artxist.com