Nejat SatÄ±: Wild Flowers

Pi Artworks Istanbul is hosting a special solo exhibition by Nejat SatÄ±. â€™Wild Flowers; at the crossing of art and natureâ€™ is on view until August 10, 2019.

Pi Artworks Istanbul is pleased to host artist Nejat SatÄ±â€™s solo exhibition Wild Flowers, a special show interpreting the links between art and nature. It presents an exploration of wildflowers concerning their colors. The exhibition for the first time presents this series of abstract paintings in one place and invites the spectator to dive into the abstract flora curated by the artist in the confines of the gallery space.

After having adopted black for a few years for social and aesthetic reasons (Light in the Dark, 2017), Nejat SatÄ± returns to color in full force with this exhibition. The paintings represent the artistâ€™s recent observations of appearance, characteristics, and nature of colors, taking his inspiration directly from wildflowers. These so-called wild plants can adapt to and thrive in extreme environments and have no need whatsoever for humans to exist. To study their color tones, Sati started observing nature surrounding his studio located in the heart of rural Turkey, with the help of a serendipitous old botanic book.

Nejat SatÄ±, Echinacea Purpurea, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 27 cm / Courtesy of Pi Artworks Istanbul

Nejat SatÄ±, Hylocereus Undatus, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 27 cm / Courtesy of Pi Artworks Istanbul

Nejat SatÄ±, Nelumbo Nucifera, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 27 cm / Courtesy of Pi Artworks Istanbul

Nejat SatÄ±, Papaver Rhoeas, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 27 cm / Courtesy of Pi Artworks Istanbul

Nejat SatÄ±, Quercus, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 27 cm / Courtesy of Pi Artworks Istanbul

Nejat SatÄ± works in a manner reminiscent of art, magic, and science happening all at once. He takes small samples of color tones from the area where the petals join the reproductive parts of the flower and names them according to the original Latin nomenclature of flower anatomy. When transferring these small color samples onto the canvas, Satiâ€™s imagination, aesthetics, intellect, and spirituality converge and become a starting point for his inquest into existence. Moreover, as is evident in his previous abstract series Nefs (2014) and Structure (2012), they attain a sense of movement and dimension that is so specific to his works, revealing a higher being or experience to which Sati feels they belong.

The capability of these plants to endure the most challenging situations and to provide permanence to their species by appealing to both humans and animals using their hypnotizing color displays plays a role in the artistâ€™s approach to color as an existential condition per se. These color spectra from the plants we see are a result of the permanent plant life cycle of blossoming and fading, like birth and death. It is thus through colors that SatÄ± seeks a possible manifestation of the essence in our existence.

Nejat Sati was born in 1982, Izmir, Turkey. Major exhibitions include; Light in the Dark (solo), Pi Artworks Istanbul, Turkey (2017); The Power of Form, Plato Sanat, Istanbul, Turkey (2016); Nefs (solo), Pi Artworks Istanbul, Turkey (2014); Istanbul Art Scene (solo), Yallay Gallery, Hong Kong (2014); Hot Spot Istanbul, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland (2013); State of Mind (solo), Pi Artworks Istanbul, Turkey (2012); Encounters, Turkish Contemporary Art in Korea, Araart, Seoul, South Korea (2012); If Nature is Heaven, Hell is The City, CerModern, Ankara, Turkey (2011); and When Ideas Become Crime, Depo, Istanbul, Turkey (2010). Major collections holding his work include; Avidon Art & Design Collection, Dusseldorf, Germany; Kuna & Co Collection, Frankfurt, Germany; Bissan Gallery Collection, Doha, Qatar; John Quinn Collection, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Urquhart Collection, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Allianz Collection, Istanbul, Turkey; Papko Collection, Istanbul, Turkey; Vehbi Koc Foundation, Istanbul, Turkey and Yildiz Holding, Istanbul, Turkey.