Timur Celik is known primarily for his large-format portraits, whose style may be characterized as ‘hyperrealistic’ – something that is equally true of his smaller format works. The expressions on the faces of those portrayed are intense, seeming to approach the viewer in a kaleidoscopic play of rust, asphalt and other colour nuances associated with the big city. They resemble a threshold between the human being’s interior and exterior, toward which the painter attracts the visitor. Portraits and urban landscapes both reflect a growing impression of melancholy or loneliness.
In Celik’s painting the picture background in matt grey appears almost like a protagonist, deferring to the other ‘characters’, whether they are human figures, contingent objects, or cityscapes empty of people: “His obsession is city fragments, in person, in landscape or in object. Framing becomes a tool of knowing and demands a deeper meaning of the fragment. Yet Celik’s work never promises to fulfill that meaning.” (Ovul O. Durmusoglu)
Timur Celik, born in Gümüshane (Turkey), lives and works in Berlin.