Aziz Başan
Born in 1943 in Berlin, the majority of the artist's life was spent in the United Kingdom. After settling in Bodrum in 2008, he worked on Drawing with Zeynep Çavuş and Basic Art with Ayla Eriş, the founder of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University and a retired lecturer. The artist passed away from lung cancer on April 19, 2022, at his son's home in Elgin, Scotland.
Here is Aziz Başan's own account of how he started his artistic journey:
My interest in art began during my years working with the lavis technique in Japan and continued with my oil painting works in Turkey. After moving to the UK, I continued to create paintings using the lavis technique. During my time there, I had the opportunity to closely follow the works of the London School; Hockney, Kitaj, Auerbach, Kossoff, Freud, and of course, Bacon. However, we should not forget the British artists who later gained fame.
Journey to Japan, 1954
A person, especially an artist, cannot live apart from history. Whether they have directly experienced historical events or not, their life and consequently their works are influenced by history.
I started my artistic journey in Japan, and I have a collection of works made on a stack of sketchbooks, paper, and silk using the lavis technique. I went there from a provincial town that wasn't much different from Ankara at the time. French legionnaire paratroopers joined us in Djibouti, and we landed in Saigon.
In Japan, I encountered the emerging consumer society, in which the Japanese would play a significant role in its development. I traveled around Japan with my family, but I don't recall Hiroshima being mentioned even once at home or at school. After returning from Japan, I learned that the French legionnaires had perished in Dien Bien Phu, and many of the captured soldiers died on the way.
Their defeat triggered the Vietnam War, and the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki deeply affected my generation, especially our intellectual lives. It remained a topic of discussion until the 1980s.
Exhibitions:
Online Exhibitions 2021 - Aziz Başan Studio Exhibition 2020 - Aziz Başan - Defeating the Virus 2019 - "Contemplation on a Mountain" - Aziz Başan Studio Exhibition 2019 - "Lost Ones" - Aziz Başan Studio Exhibition 2018 - Aziz Başan Painting Exhibition - ART212 2018 - Aziz Başan Studio Exhibition 2017 - Aziz Başan Studio Exhibition
Solo Exhibitions: 2016 - Hakan Aykan Culture and Art Center - Bodrum 2016 - Ottoman Shipyard - Bodrum
Group Exhibitions: 2019 - RE:ARTISTE's 5th Annual International Exhibition "Show Your World" - New York 2016 - Zeynep Art Gallery - Bodrum Art Market - Bodrum 2016 - Zeynep Art Gallery - 1st Bodrum Art Cup Show - Bodrum 2016 - Zeynep Art Gallery - Bodrum 2016 - Zeynep Art Gallery - Bodrum 2015 - Zeynep Art Gallery - Bodrum
