ABOUT
SALİH
UYGUN
PAINTER
ILLUSTRATOR
Salih Uygun is a contemporary Turkish painter and Illustrator who takes visual cues from various genres, such as expressionism, minimalism, cubism and neo-cubism, aiming to create pieces that render his own engaging and atmospheric interpretation of nature and the human spirit.
His artistic journey began the moment he learned how to pick up a pencil and draw. Drawing on every surface he could find since the age of five, Salih had his first group exhibition by the time he was just 11 years old and his first solo gallery exhibition at the age of twenty-six. His interest was peak during his teenage years and further developed when he opted to take his Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the Uludağ University in 2009.
While attending college, Salih also worked as a Cartoonist for the comic magazine LeMan, one of Turkey's most popular satire magazines. Following that, his caricatures, illustrations and vignette works have been featured in numerous publications in cultural art and literature categories including Edebiyatist, Mikrop, Derin Kafa and Mavi.
Salih’s art works feature the decomposition of portraits, animals, nature and scenes of natural world to individualistic designs and represented with light and energy, movement of colors and shapes with harmony and creativity. He focuses on the sensual nature of art and his art mainly centers around a concept of the fertility in which female figures are the dominant element in most of his works as the symbol of fertility. He is fascinated by the regenerative power of female which he subtly incorporates in his works. As the artist explains, “As being a Man, I can create life by creating art.
Salih follows no rules, but keeps the harmony and balance. His works aren't restricted to one style or medium of work. He enjoys making artworks from different mediums range from generic mediums such as canvas, paper and fabric to experimental mediums like digital art, mixed media and mural painting. Being open to different art forms has given him a broad perspective on the arts allowing him to mix different art forms together to create new styles and unique works of art. His palette of techniques stretches across a variety of medium such as drawing, painting, fabric painting, digital painting and airbrush.
Female figures are the dominant element in most of his art works as the symbol of fertility
Salih is currently living in Bodrum, a sun-soaked coastline of Turkey where he derives much of his inspiration while expressing the vibrant spirit and atmosphere of the Aegean culture.
Adding to his artistic contributions, Salih is passionate about sharing knowledge and encouraging creativity and since 2009, he combines her love for creating art with education through serving as a Visual Arts Teacher in Bahçeşehir College.
He teaches 5 upto 18 year-olds in order to help them foster the same enthusiasm that he has for painting. He believes that the nature and the children are the real artists.
He has worked with several art galleries and exhibited his works in more than forty exhibitions, both group and solo shows across Turkey.
He is also the recipient of international Awards from Print, Art Biennials held in Macedonia and Bulgaria in and he took the third place in Illustration Contest Brazil in 2010.