Murat Önen – resim başka sen başka

Murat Önen’s exhibition, titled resim başka sen başka will be on view at Öktem Aykut from February 13 to March 28, 2026. The opening will take place on Friday, February 13 from 18:30 to 20:30.

Named after a line from the Turkish classical piece, “Kaderimde Hep Güzeli Aradım” (I Chased Beauty My Whole Life Through), resim başka sen başka is Önen’s first solo exhibition in Turkey. The selection is also a continuation of the artist’s previous exhibitions from last year, held at Galerie Max Mayer in Düsseldorf and Edouard Montassut in Paris.

resim başka sen başka opens a small window onto the layered transformation undergone by the artist since his 2012 departure from Istanbul, as well as the world depicted within these works. Positioned almost like an interlude within the exhibition, a self-portrait drawn by the artist in Istanbul at the age of thirteen emerges as a silent witness—a relic from an early moment in which Önen discovered his hunger for transformation and self-discovery.

”My practice is rooted in a visual language that transforms my diverse influences into layered paintings. Trained in classical drawing in Turkey,
I combine my personal history with art historical references, and use the Western and Eastern canon as my toolbox. I don’t distinguish between abstraction and figuration—instead, I use the “image within an image” structure and the painting process itself as a theme to keep the work open and experimental.

My methodology is balanced between calculation and improvisation. I often work on multiple canvases simultaneously, allowing them to nurture each other. The work develops through a process of overpainting and layering— sometimes using prints as a foundation—where the final scene emerges from the act of doing. I deliberately maintain a level of openness, allowing my conceptual forms to evolve intuitively, rather than follow a rigid script.”