Gültekin Bilge's Profile

From: United Kingdom
Joined: March 19, 2012

About GultekinBilge:

Gültekin Bilge (pronounced Beelgay) is a Turkish Cypriot Artist. He was born in 1945 in Ceyhan, Paphos and is a graduate of the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts. He is currently living in Scotland, UK.

Gültekin's artworks convey messages about life and the nature of relationships on many different levels. They have a haunting emotional quality, revealing a rich and colourful internal landscape that is imaginative, insightful, and sometimes deeply troubled. Gültekin has a very unique way of viewing human experience. His journey through life has not been easy and it would be impossible to separate his life from his art. Tragically, he was shot in the right hand with a dumdum bullet during the 1974 Cyprus war. His hand was eventually saved by doctors but he lost fine motor skills. Recovery was slow and it was many years before he regained the ability to draw and paint. But he managed to hold onto his artistic vision and after many years developed his own signature style and technique.

At times he finds it difficult to fit into the “normal” world. He often describes himself an outsider who does not perceive things in the same way as others see them. Even from an early age he seems to have known that he was somehow different from those around him. His artworks reveal his intensely subjective view of life and human relationships.

Endlessly restless and constantly searching for new and different modes of expression in oil painting, Gültekin is never satisfied with one effect or technique. He seems to continuously push the boundaries by developing new techniques and trying out new ways of working to develop new and different forms.