Artworks by Fatih Sungurtekin

Fatih Sungurtekin’s artistic journey began in childhood, when he shaped mud toys and drew on walls. His talent was first recognized by his high school teacher, who encouraged him to pursue visual arts. In 1995 he entered the Faculty of Fine Arts, Painting Department, formally marking the start of his career. Since then he has taken part in numerous national and international exhibitions as a conceptual artist.

In the early years of his practice he focused on the concept of “Moment and Memory.” His work explored themes such as time, the destruction of urban heritage, the decline of human dialogue, and the transformation and erasure of collective memory. Art became for him both a means of warning and informing, and a narrative that carries messages for the future. During this period he experimented with walls, paper and canvas, employing installations, ready-made objects and mixed techniques.

He later expanded the “Moment and Memory” concept by intertwining time, space and memory. Investigating how fleeting experiences are shaped and recorded in the mind, he created fragmented, multi-layered works in which moments overlap and abstract into visual compositions. By linking his personal memory with collective memory, he manipulated the canvas to produce intricate, stratified images. These overlapping moments, blending time and recollection, led him toward increasingly complex works.

In recent years, drawing inspiration from micro- and macrocosmic elements as well as the forms and structures of nature and living beings, Sungurtekin has concentrated on revealing the visible and invisible beauties of nature and of the present moment through layered compositions. Establishing correspondences between what lies inside and outside the body and the mind, he blends the figure with the other elements of the painting in an aesthetic synthesis. Viewed from a distance the works appear as a unified whole; upon closer inspection they disclose new images, details and deeper layers of meaning. Each collage element supports the main image while simultaneously generating independent meanings and eliciting different emotions in the viewer.

Sungurtekin examines the relationship between presence and absence through the lens of time and perception, moving between the known and the unknown. His paintings invite the viewer on an inner and outer journey of awareness. Of his own work he says: “Painting should take you on a physical, spiritual, perceptual and universal journey through time.”