The canvases of the popular Bodrum-based Naive artist Bayram Gümüs are just the thing to blow away any shadows of winter gloom. Born in Konya in 1960, Bayram moved with his family moved to Istanbul at 7, but gave up lycée in 1977 to join the army in Northern Cyprus. It was there that he took up painting in his free time, giving away his pictures to friends as souvenirs. In 1983 his talent was spotted by Kasım Koçak, a successful artist noted for his atmospheric social realism. After working in both Koçak’s and the abstract painter İbrahim Çiftçioğlu’s studios, he set up his own studio and was invited to hold his first solo exhibition in Akara in 1985. He hasn’t looked back.This new show, beneath the 16th-century domes of Sinan’s famous Kethuda Hamam in Ortaköy, is curated by Kerem Bozkurt. Bayram Gümüş’s joie de vivre, distinctive pallet and take on life reaches new heights.
