About
Galeri Nev was founded in 1984 by two architects, Ali Artun and Haldun Dostoğlu. Since its establishment, over three hundred exhibitions have been held in the gallery’s venues in Ankara and Istanbul. These exhibitions were mainly by the ‘first modernists’ of Turkey who are the representatives of the post World War II generation and the two following generations. Nev has also opened its doors to European modernism through the shows of Alechinsky, Bonnard, Dali, Dubuffet, Picasso, Pedersen and Saura. In addition, Nev has given place to contemporary art from the United States, Canada, South America, Africa and Japan. Besides the exhibitions at its gallery spaces, Nev has realized the show “I am Another” at the Charlottenborg Center for Arts in Copenhagen, the “CoBrA” show at the Museum of Fine Arts in Ankara, the exhibition of the “Central Bank Collection” at the Atatürk Center for Culture in Ankara and of the “Sainsbury Collection” at the Yapı Kredi Center in Istanbul. The retrospectives of internationally recognized artists Erol Akyavaş, Mehmet Güleryüz, Nejad Devrim and Alev Ebüzziya curated by Nev have been hosted by the major museums and cultural centers of Turkey. In addition, among the existing galleries in Turkey, Galeri Nev is the first to venture into the field of international art fairs, and it is with the Stockholm, Madrid (ARCO) and Athens art fairs that many local artists were represented abroad for the first time.
The Gallery is also unique in editing and publishing eleven suits of original prints, over a hundred limited edition reproductions and ninety-three volumes of art books and catalogues to date. Thereby Galeri Nev has invested in developing theoretical approaches to art history and to art criticism in Turkey which have remained limited despite the fruitful production of art. With the same objectives, one of the founders of Nev, Ali Artun had started editing the SANATHAYAT series in 2003. In year 2000, Galeri Nev has celebrated its fifteenth anniversary with eight thematic exhibitions and with the MUSEUMBOOK containing reproductions of 2000 works taken from the gallery’s different exhibitions. In year 2004, past exhibitions were, this time, the source of the book entitled WRITINGS LOOKING AT THE PAINTINGS compiling of articles from previously published –and now mostly out of print- Nev catalogues. WRITINGS LOOKING AT THE PAINTINGS was accompanying the twentieth anniversary group show looking both into Nev’s history and the history of the period upon which Nev has largely concentrated on.
