I don’t know if you’ve ever had an opportunity to visit a painter’s studio or not, but each studio has its own spirit. It takes you somewhere else with its colours and lines. It tries to tell you about a series of events. However, for whatever reason, they don’t all give you the same strong emotions... This month, I’ll be hosting a very special artist whom everyonerespects and loves alongside his unique-smelling studio with a magical energy, students, and paintings whose colours simply mystify you: Mr. Serdar Leblebici. He’s a true artist! I first got to know him in 2011. He had an eye-opening personality. He was unlike any artist I’d ever met before. Over time, I got to know him better, was mystified, and continued to learn from him and witness his different colours. Every single time, his actions, things, behaviours, and words underlined what a “real artist” was, conceptually speaking. He has never compromised what he believes in. He had a character that you can trust without hesitation. He is generous enough to reach out to everyone he believes in, and strong enough not to let go. He is very rare to come across... Eventually I came to the conclusion that being a painter and being an artist were not one in the same thing. Being an artist was something else entirely. It is a stance, a way of thinking, a self-sacrifice. It means fighting for the values one believes in. It is a contribution, a discourse, an observation, a walk, an opinion. It is endless respect for everyone and every work of art ever done... and beyond. There is love in all of his relationships. This is the biggest difference that distinguishes him from others... This love is so great that it grows alongside contents of his studio. It clamps everyone together. Later, it turns into colours and light in [his] works of art... Every contribution he’s made freely and lovingly has generously awarded him every beautiful thing he has in his life... He has a castle of love which is surrounded by a very special family having supported him at every stage of his life and his artist friends and students loving him very much and is impossible to destroy... Those who’ve come knocking on his door are lucky... because as soon as they get to know him, they become his friend for life. This artist creates non-stop. He produces enough works to open a museum out of his studio. Now, after a 12-year period of immense longing, on January 5, he returned to reunite people of Izmir and his works at a personal exhibition at Art Shop. This exhibition brought together six different subjects or series: Trunks, Mysterious Nude, Landscapes, On the Edge of the City, Portraits, and Lotus. As in his previous exhibitions, the artist made hand picked, grouped, and arranged every work of art. Serdar’s works bring the past, the simple present, and the present together on the same surface. He allows all of us to experience all seasons at the same time but in different places. Bringing abstract and concrete concepts together changes how we perceive time in our minds... He takes us on a journey through time by using the woman images whichperiodically transform into silhouettes as intertwined with ancient textures. When you are looking at the paintings, time both stops and flows. It is as if the power of the trunksestablishes a connection between the earth and the sky and also ruins of ancient temples, mansions, and bridges wink at you from the depths of the paintings... The common and freely positioned images of fish and pomegranate in each of Serdar Leblebici’s compositions pops up on the surface of the painting at unexpected moments and lead us down a mysterious journey of life. Reflections formed by the combination of water with light alongside tree trunks that draw their strength from the energy of life turn into female bodies and wrap around you. Usingskilfully the concepts of light and depth in his paintings, he sincerely reflects a multi-layered painting language to us... In Serdar Leblebici’s portraits, the eye seems to be painter’s eye and makes the viewer a partner of his own world from that point. Here, he blends his thoughts with his feelings and gets closer to us in each of his works... He states that “Every new painting is my rebirth” and sincerely tells us about the sense of devotion, love, and excitement he feels towards the art of painting he’s devoted his life to... The artist has held twenty-seven solo exhibitions to date. He’s participated in many international group exhibitions both at home and abroad. He’s a member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (SNBA), Paris. He was awarded with a “Bronze Medal in Painting” (2006) and a “Silver Medal” for his “20x20” Delegation Exhibition (2011) by the SNBA and the “Grand Prize in Painting” at the Tunisia / Monastir International Plastic Arts Festival (2013). He was awarded two gold medals, one in the branch of installation (2015), and the other in the branch of painting (2016).Within the scope of a project carried out by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs,his works have been included in the collections of Turkish Embassies, primarily Abuja (Nigeria) and Ulan Bator (Mongolia). Since 2010, he has been represented by Galerie L’Amour de L’Art in Paris. He is one of Turkish artists from the Turkish delegation who have actively (since 2014) participated in the “International Traditional Plastic Arts” exhibition, an event that the French Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts(SNBA) organizes every year at the “Carrousel du Louvre, Salle le Notre” Hall at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. He lives in Izmir and continues to work out of his studio there. His exhibition is open to the public at Izmir Art Shop until February 13. You won’t be able to get enough of gazing at his 52 works! He has created them using mixed technique on paper, ink wash painting on paper, and oil on aluminium paper and canvas. As you get lost in the colours, you’ll find yourself in a place between reality and a dream just like the subjects in his paintings... You will be illuminated with strong light accents that allow us to recognize him in the most obvious way, and once again you will shed light on both the past and the future...Now, let’s see.. where will you find yourself... and in which work? Aslı ÖNDER painter/writer February 2017 Serdar Leblebici / 28th solo exhibition / January 5 – February 13, 2017 / ART SHOP – Izmir