Mithat Şen

Mithat Şen was born in 1957. He graduated from the painting Department of State Fine Arts Academy in 1981. He had his first solo exhibition in Galata, Istanbul in 1982. He represented Turkey with Kemal Önsoy in the 44th Venice Biennial, which was held in 1990. In his paintings, Şen draws attention to the relationship between reality and surrealism by using his unique technique. According to him, the human body can be seen as a totality just like the general characteristic of visual elements. The moving images he drew in his black and white paintings before 1987 can be perceived as the pioneers of his subsequent images which resemble the torso. At first, these images used to be open and moving. However, they quickly developed and transformed into a closed and stagnant images. In 1988, Şen described bodies with pastel colors such as rose pink, yellowish orange and gray-blue. However, since 1989, red, green, blue and purple colors started to be more dominant in his paintings. He sometimes led his images alone and sometimes preferred to use them in groupings. In early 1990’s, Şen divided his canvas into equivalent pieces, and separated the image into small pieces. He uses the same technique in his silk prints. He has had many solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group exhibitions in Turkey. As of today, Şen continues his work in Istanbul.

Reference: mithatsen.com, macartgallery.com, galerinev.com, sanalmuze.org