2011-2012

Remzi Raşa: Choosing Solitude, A Retrospective, 1946 - 2006

February 2011 – May 2012
İstanbul, Diyarbakır

The works of Remzi Raşa, one of the last living painters of the Second Paris School, were exhibited in his own country for the first time in 58 years. The exhibition titled “Choosing Solitude, A Retrospective: 1946 – 2006” opened in Diyarbakır following Istanbul.

Raşa was born in Kırıkhan, a town close to Hatay, and held his first exhibition, at the age of 17, at the Public Culture House there. He settled in Paris in 1953, and held solo exhibitions and took part in group exhibitions at many galleries. Some art critics classify Raşa’s paintings as classical, whereas others describe his work as modern. Raşa himself responds by saying he aims to make ‘a painting of the future’. The artist produces figurative work, and his ambitions include depicting solitude, exploring the minds of people, and especially women, whose portraits he paints, and of the objects and spaces such as Parisian coffee houses, and to research their stories.

The exhibition was realized through the collaboration of santralistanbul and Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality.