Portrait of Şeker Ahmet Pasha

As part of his process to re-discover the city of Istanbul, Taner Ceylan begins by observing it through different perspectives. Historic buildings, districts and hidden gems all become sources of inspiration in the artist’s journey to rediscover a personal experience of the ancient city. Reflected in his latest series and exhibition, Row Gently Let Not the Moonlight Waken, people and places of the past and present become special and valuable subjects in Ceylan’s enchanting, realist draughtsmanship. The untold stories and truths of the past, which begin with his The Lost Painting Series, emerge as new forms and narratives in contemporary Istanbul.

The present, fictional portrait drawing is based on the life of Şeker Ahmed Pasha, an Ottoman military painter and prominent figure in Turkish art history whose landscapes and still lifes are widely regarded as cornerstones of contemporary Turkish painting. Working in delicate graphite, Ceylan manipulates a found image of the nineteenth century artist, whose nickname ‘Şeker’ translates to ‘sugar’ in Turkish, and depicts the charming image of Pasha as he survives in Ceylan’s imagination.

Taner Ceylan was born in Germany in 1967, and graduated from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul in 1991. In that same year, Ceylan presented his first solo exhibition in Nuremberg, Germany. Ceylan worked as a lecturer at the Fine Arts Faculty of Yeditepe University (2001-2003) and was Arts Editor-in-Chief for Time Out Istanbul (2001-2006). He has been featured in international exhibitions and biennials, including the Istanbul Biennial (2003, 2005 and 2015); Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York (2009, 2013, 2015 and 2017) and The Piedmont Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale (2019).