Painter Cemal Toy's "Heart Alignment" exhibition met with art lovers

Toy, who spoke to an AA reporter about the exhibition and her artistic life, stated that she graduated from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University and received training from Devrim Erbil, adding, "Before starting the academy, I worked as an assistant to İlhami Hoca at the İlhami Atalay Art Gallery for 10 years, and that's how my artistic adventure began."

Toy said that he included an installation in this exhibition to highlight the "workshop tradition" he carried out with İlhami Atalay.

Regarding her choice of the exhibition's title, "Heart Alignment," Toy said, "We are children of a civilization that values ​​humanity. As an artist, I wanted to keep this alive, and in this sense, the exhibition features child-friendly approaches. We will have workshops for children. We will work on children's aesthetic perspectives, framing skills, and ways of seeing. We also plan to hold workshops for adults as part of the exhibition."

Toy, who stated that the proceeds from the 15 works in the exhibition will be donated to Gaza, said, "If art lovers purchase these works, they will support individuals who have lost limbs in Gaza. We have held auctions on this subject before. The prosthetic needs of approximately 30 amputees were met. We are working with the International Doctors Association."

Cemal Toy stated that the exhibition includes works compiled from various collections that have not been exhibited before, and that he also presented paintings from his series titled "Every City Looks to It," "Infinite Cities," "Istanbul Panorama," "The One and the Many," "Fire and Water," and "Dervishes."

Toy, who previously mentioned that foreign tourists had shown great interest in the paintings in his "Dervishes" collection at his workshop in Sultanahmet, noted the following:

"I try to capture the four colors of Istanbul in my paintings. For example, I thought, 'What would Istanbul look like if it were enclosed in an emerald?' In this sense, there are my 'Emerald Cities Istanbul' paintings in the exhibition. There's a color I describe as 'Istanbul Red.' There are colors used in Ottoman and Byzantine palaces, purple and red. There are also works related to that in the exhibition. It's a work that captures the rhythms of Istanbul, like symphonic music. That's also very interesting. There are also paintings in turquoise and blue. There's also a beautiful selection in sepia tones in the exhibition. We look forward to seeing art lovers."

Toy, who underlined that İlhami Atalay and Devrim Erbil were two important names that inspired him, stated that "Heart Alignment" is an exhibition that contains beautiful meanings and deserves to be discovered.

Toy said she will continue to paint with children in her artistic career, adding that they will open an exhibition in South Africa with the Nelson Mandela Foundation in October and that they will also organize an exhibition for Gaza with the Together Art Association in the coming days.

Speaking at the exhibition's opening, painter İlhami Atalay emphasized that an artist's development is not easy, saying, "In today's ungrateful, hypocritical art environment, an artist can't survive on their art. Talent, love of art, and hard work aren't enough for an artist to survive. They also require the ability to endure and resist. Cemal Toy has persevered through the years and reached this point. I've waited 40 years for Cemal Toy to reach this point, since he came to me in 1985. Today, we have a Matrakçı Cemal, like Matrakçı Nasuh, as a painter of mysterious cities."

Fatih Mayor Ergün Turan, who was a guest at the opening, commented that Cemal Toy used the art of painting as an illusion and thanked Toy and the participants for organizing such an exhibition.

AKM Artistic Director Remzi Buharalı also gave a speech at the opening.

At the program, a plaque of appreciation was presented to Cemal Toy by Ayşegül Odabaşı on behalf of the Birlikte Sanat team for his support to Gaza.

Curated by Betül Tekiner, the "Heart Alignment" exhibition can be visited between 10:00 and 19:00 until September 7.