"My issue is with "time". Thinking about what time is and isn't, or when it started, tires me out, while keeping me very interested. Completing this inner journey is not the easiest thing. Emotions, excitements, feelings and ways of perceiving life have changed through time. We have to look inward and discover ourselves. We collectively possess a deep loneliness.

This sadness, desperation, and unhappiness must have been reflected in figurative works. Lastly, I use relatable symbols and motifs in my paintings to crack open doors for viewers in their own lives. That's why in my works, I am using small hints to evoke the perception of certain emotions."

About

Born 1942 in Istanbul, Turkey, Cengiz Gücük graduated from the Marmara University Fine Arts's department of decorative painting in 1965. Upon graduation, he traveled to Germany and worked as an intern on restorations in the Ulm Minster. Expressing the importance of respecting culture, Gücük says this work taught him to be patient, careful, and use his time efficiently.

He stayed in Germany, from 1969 to 1974, and briefly had an opportunity to work with Prof. Ernst Fuchs, one of the founders of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism and someone he greatly looked up to. In 1971, he won the “Young Artist's Award” in Baden-Württemberg andin 1973, his works were exhibited in the Ulm museum. In 1974, he returned to Turkey. Gücük uses symbols as starting points, heavily focusing on Hittite Sun Courses and Turkish motifs.

The artist highlights that he prefers to use Turkish motifs, stating that there is nothing more natural than working with what belongs to one's own culture. Gücük uses these symbols to emphasize “time” and “the journey through time”. In his works, we can see snails and spirals expressing eternity and the Hittite Sun Courses revealing the reflection of the journey through time. He bases his work on two main themes, figurative and ornamental oil paintings (in which he sometimes uses abstract forms).