Necmettin Özlü at Galeri Soyut: From Geology to Painting, a New Solo Exhibition in Ankara

Some painters arrive at the canvas through an academy. Necmettin Özlü arrived through rock. Trained as an earth scientist, with a doctorate from Paris, he spent the first part of his working life teaching geology before deciding, in his late thirties, to paint full-time. Nearly four decades later he returns to Ankara’s Galeri Soyut with a new solo exhibition: the Necmettin Özlü exhibition at Galeri Soyut, on view from 13 to 27 November 2026, with an opening on Friday 13 November from 18:00 to 20:00.

A life in several cities

Özlü was born in 1950 in Trabzon, on Turkey’s Black Sea coast — Akçaabat, according to the biographical entry of the Turkish Cultural Foundation. He graduated from Karadeniz Technical University in 1972 with a degree in the earth sciences and left that year for Paris on a scholarship, completing his doctorate in 1978. Back in Turkey he became a research assistant at Ege University in İzmir in 1979, then took a post as associate professor at a university of science and technology in Algeria, where he stayed until 1987.

He had begun painting in 1980. By 1987 the hobby had become the profession, and the following decades read like a map: studios and exhibitions in Ankara, Brussels, Ghent, Paris, Rabat, Komotini in Greek Thrace and New York, before a return to Ankara, where he still works. Galeri Soyut counts about 35 solo exhibitions; earlier milestones include a 1995 show at Millî Reasürans Sanat Galerisi in Istanbul, curated by Amélie Edgü with a text by the critic Kaya Özsezgin, an honour diploma at the first Algerian Biennale, and works in the collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Algiers and in Turkish diplomatic missions abroad.

Figure, geometry and inner landscape

Galeri Soyut describes Özlü’s painting as a meeting of figurative compositions and geometric order, and his landscapes as explorations of inner worlds rather than views of real places. He paints in oil and acrylic on canvas, often on a large scale. Recent titles give a sense of the vocabulary. Kırmızı daire (Red Circle, 2025), the oil on our cover, is built around a single strong geometric sign. Mavi Hafıza (Blue Memory, 2026) is a canvas almost two and a half metres wide in acrylic and oil, and Derin su (Deep Water, 2025) is an acrylic of 150 by 120 centimetres.

It is tempting — and probably fair — to see the geologist in the painter. A scientist of the earth thinks in layers, cross-sections, deep time and structures hidden beneath visible surfaces. Circles, bands of colour, water and memory are natural metaphors for that way of seeing. Özlü’s generation of Turkish painters, many of whom passed through Paris, often absorbed the lessons of the School of Paris and postwar abstraction; his path through science gives that inheritance an unusual, almost structural, discipline.

What we know about the new exhibition

At the time of writing, Galeri Soyut had announced the dates, the opening and the venue — Hall B of its Çankaya gallery — but noted that the exhibition title, text and list of works would be added later. We will not speculate about specific paintings. What is certain is the setting: the same evening, Mevlüt Akar opens a solo show in the gallery’s Hall A, so 13 November will be a double opening in Yıldızevler.

Galeri Soyut and Ankara

Founded in 1990, Galeri Soyut is one of the capital’s most active private galleries, with a 600-square-metre main space in Çankaya divided into three halls and a second venue in Çayyolu. Its programme rotates quickly — short, overlapping solo shows that make Ankara’s gallery calendar unusually dense — and in December it hosts two annual project exhibitions, Frekans and Yeni Aralık. Özlü has exhibited with the gallery before, including a solo show in 2010.

Why it matters

For collectors of Turkish painting, Özlü represents a generation that built international careers outside the usual Istanbul-centred channels, with decades of exhibitions across Europe and North Africa. His output is large — the gallery’s archive lists hundreds of works — which makes a focused new show the best way to see where the painting stands today. For younger painters, his biography is an encouragement: it is possible to come to painting late, from another discipline, and turn that discipline into a style.

Visiting information

Galeri Soyut, Şehit Mustafa Doğan Caddesi No: 26/A, Yıldızevler, Çankaya, Ankara. 13 – 27 November 2026, Hall B. Opening: Friday 13 November, 18:00–20:00. Hours: Monday–Saturday 10:00–19:00, closed Sunday; admission is free and the gallery recommends booking. Telephone +90 532 550 99 94. See our Necmettin Özlü exhibition listing, the official Galeri Soyut exhibition page and more openings on Upcoming Art Exhibitions in Leading Galleries.