LONDON.- This autumn, Sotheby’s S|2 gallery is staging the landmark first London solo exhibition by the leading Turkish contemporary artist, Taner Ceylan. Running from the 23 September to 28 October, and comprising six astounding photo-realist paintings, ‘I Love You’ is a major new body of work by the Istanbul-based artist.

Through his virtuoso, emotionally charged paintings, Ceylan has become the most revered - and perhaps most controversial - Turkish artist of his generation. Sharing the technical mastery of great 20th-century photorealist pioneers such as Chuck Close, Ceylan’s work is suffused with a visceral emotional energy that belies the painstakingly labour-intensive process behind each painting. “I try to paint with the language of the contemporary artists, and contemporary photography with the techniques of the classical artist”, says Ceylan.

I Love You, the artist’s most important body of work to date, draws inspiration from the portrayal of religious subjects in Old Master painting. “[In the Old Masters] we are presented with humanity’s suffering, cruelty, love and submission, which is juxtaposed with physical beauty”, says Ceylan, “I was faced with questions that I had never thought of before, nor would have ever imagined asking. Could pain and suffering actually bring beauty and happiness? Is suffering erotic? Is pain legitimate?”

The six large-scale canvasses included in the show are emblematic of these concerns, culminating in the final painting of the series, the self-portrait I Love You, 2016. With cigarette in hand, and shrouded in an exquisitely painted plume of smoke, Ceylan recalls the painting 1881 (From the Lost Painting Series), 2010, which sold for a record-breaking £121,250 at Sotheby’s in 2010. In this self-portrait the artist depicts himself as battle-worn and bloodied: “there is a battle going on as an artist with art history”, says Ceylan.

Known for his “emotional realism” paintings, Taner Ceylan graduated from the Fine Arts Faculty at Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul in 1991. That same year, Ceylan presented his first group show and first solo exhibition in Nuremberg, Germany. His seminal exhibition and performance “Monte Carlo Style,” debuted in 1995, making a significant impact on the Turkish art scene. Ceylan worked as a lecturer at the Fine Arts Faculty of Yeditepe University, 2001 – 2003 and was editor in chief of Time Out Istanbul’s arts section, 2001 – 2006.

Taner Ceylan represented by Paul Kasmin Gallery New York, has exhibited in numerous international art fairs, museums, and galleries including in New York (2009); the 8th International Istanbul Biennial (2003); the 9th International Istanbul Biennial (2005), Postcards from CAC at the Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans (2009); Naked at Paul Kasmin Gallery (2009); Istanbul Next Wave (2010); Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2010); Istanbul Modern at the Museum Boijman Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2011). His work is in private and public collections worldwide, including the Sveaas Art Collection and Istanbul Museum of Modern Art.