"These journeys mark the beginning of a search, and everything starts from here.”
Mahmut Celayir reshapes the timeless relationship between nature and humanity on his canvases. His works, carrying the traces of geography, memory, and time, invite the viewer into a profound exploration. Each brushstroke opens a door to hidden stories and an intellectual journey. Before the exhibition curated by Mehmet Kahraman opens at FAAR Gallery in January, you are invited to step into this experience with a special preview in Çukurcuma.
“Bu yolculuklar bir şeyleri aramanın başlangıcıdır ve her şey bununla başlar.”
Mahmut Celayir, doğa ve insan arasındaki kadim ilişkiyi tuvallerinde yeniden şekillendirir. Coğrafyanın, belleğin ve zamanın izlerini taşıyan eserleri, izleyiciyi bir arayışın içine davet eder. Her fırça darbesi, derinliklerde saklı hikayelere ve düşünsel bir yolculuğa kapı aralar. Mehmet Kahraman’ın küratörlüğünde Ocak ayında FAAR Gallery’de açılacak büyük sergi öncesinde, Çukurcuma’da ön izleme ile bu büyülü deneyime adım atmaya davetlisiniz.
Mahmut Celayir was born in Bingöl in 1951. Between 1972 and 1976, he studied at the İstanbul State Academy of Applied Fine Arts, followed by graphic and stage design training at the Eskişehir TV Institute from 1976 to 1978. From 1982 to 1984, he worked in stage design at the İstanbul State Theatre. The artist has long continued his artistic practice between İstanbul and Berlin.
Celayir’s solo exhibitions began in the late 1970s in Türkiye at Taksim and Akdeniz art galleries, expanding internationally throughout the 1980s with presentations at Vakko Art Galleries and galleries in Berlin and Hamburg. From the 1990s onward, exhibitions across German cities such as Stuttgart, Leipzig, Tübingen, and Maichingen strengthened his European presence, while he continued to show regularly in major art venues in Ankara, İstanbul, and İzmir.
The 2000s marked a period of both thematic and geographic expansion. Series such as Roads and Roots, Mythos Landschaft, Pekerun, and In der Spur der Schatten were exhibited across cities including İstanbul, Diyarbakır, Stuttgart, Bonn, and Paris. During this period, concepts of nature, memory, journey, and trace became increasingly central to Celayir’s painterly language.
After 2010, exhibitions in Rouen, Milan, Berlin, Paris, and Rosenheim—alongside continued presentations at C.A.M. Art Gallery in İstanbul and participation in the Mardin Biennial—situated his work firmly within an international context. In the 2020s, appearances in institutions and galleries in Berlin, Baden-Baden, and Koblenz continued this trajectory, culminating in exhibitions in Bregenz and Mardin in 2024.
Group exhibitions have also played a significant role throughout his career. Following early recognitions such as the Grand Prize at the DYO Competition Exhibition and an honorable mention at the ENKA Competition, his work has been presented at institutions including Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, the Goethe-Institut, Art Karlsruhe, Contemporary Istanbul, and NGBK Berlin, among many others.
Mahmut Celayir’s artistic practice centers on a poetic visual language shaped by metaphors of landscape, road, trace, stone, and memory—bringing together nature and historical layering within painting. His sustained production between Türkiye and Europe situates his work within a multilayered geographic and intellectual context.
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