ilhan sayın
İlhan Sayın graduated from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Department of Sculpture in 1997. In addition to his works in the field of civil society, he held solo exhibitions, the first at Depo Tophane (2016) and the second at Milli Re Art Gallery (2022). Working mostly with materials such as charcoal pen and ink on paper, Sayın explores themes such as the ravages of time in everyday life, the eternal quest for harmony between nature and humanity, and the inherent balances and conflicts therein.
In his 2022 exhibition "Fig Tree" at Milli Re Art Gallery, we see a continuation of Sayın's engagement with paper as a medium. His approach to drawing is not preparatory; rather, he deliberately harnesses the expressive possibilities of pattern. As put by Hüseyin Gökçe, who wrote the exhibition text: "İlhan Sayın's aesthetic captures the tension-filled dynamic between the natural world and human attempts to order, influence, and even dominate it. Themes like permanence, transience, destruction, decay, and chance that arise in these interactions shape his art. Both the relationship between humans and nature and the reclamation of man-made spaces by nature inform the content of his work, influencing not just subject matter but also technique, style, and material."
