Depicting the subjects of folk dance, drum, zurna, reed players during his first years of art life and deciding on the miniature at the ends of the 1970’s, Pesen created his own style by adding an element of depth to the miniature which he derived from the western painting. He produced hundreds of works with his distinctive miniature style. In most of them the subject of the rural weddings remained while in his latter works Anatolia’s several cities, regions and especially Istanbul compositions formed the subject. 

 

In 1984, the UNICEF committee chose two of Pesen’s works to be printed on UNICEF postcards. This was a first for Turkey. After this achievement in 1986, Mehmet Pesen won the Grand Award among some six hundred works from thirty two countries at the International Postcard Creations Competition organized together by UNICEF and Strasbourg Academy. 

 

Due to his illness at the early 2000’s, Pesen abandoned painting completely. In his 58 years of art life, he produced more than three thousand works. Some 200 hundred of them will be shown at the Mehmet Pesen retrospective exhibition which is one of the events that art lovers definitely should not miss.

 

Born in 1923 in Istanbul, Mehmet Pesen co-founded “10lar Grubu” in 1947 with his ten friends from DGSA Bedri Rahmi Eyüboglu Atelier. After finishing Istanbul State Fine Arts Academy painting department, he began working as a painting - art history teacher. 

 

Being honoured with the Grand Award at the International Postcard Creations Competition organized together by UNICEF and Strasbourg Academy, Pesen received “50th Year at Art” Prize by Plastic Arts Society in 1998. He exhibited his more than three thousand works at his around one hundred personal exhibitions and at several group exhibitions.