Artist Safa BÜte and Art Nigde International

Niğde is the city where I was born and live, it is far from the Cappadocia center about 1 hour by car. About 35 years I lived far from my city. I have been in many countries to realize art events and then returned back to Niğde. About 10 years ago I contacted the Ministry of Culture in Ankara and I told them I decided to live in Niğde city and give art lessons to the young people and open international exhibitions. The ministy of culture gave me an unused old church for my needs. I spent about 3 years to make it ready for the exhibitions.

I established the Art Niğde International (ANI) and started to work.

A few years I was in some international art Project with the indian artists and associations.

Many of the artists wanted to open solo exhibitions or to take part at the international group exhibitions but unfortunately I could not be successful as I wanted due to the much cargo fees. 99 percent of the artists had the same financial problems. And they were right… Because to transfer the original works by cargo or any other transfer methods cost so so so much. I could understand all the artists as being an artist. I had to find a solution for this problem. I was planning to open 3 or more international group exhibitions in a year. And with the sponsors it was not easy to solve it. Because, if I find sponsors they could support me only for a few exhibitions and then nothing. So I had to find a solution should not be inside any sponsor. In the end I found the best way to realize my group exhibitions.

As you know the technology is growing up in our life. So I could ask the artists to e-mail me the high resolution copies of their works and I could have them printed on canvas and exhibit.

I contacted my friends Yoo Choong Yeul in Republic of Korea, Fred Van W., Carmen Heemels (GAPi) and Abdolreza from Iran (Leading Art) to support me about this Project. Thanks to them, all of them are supported me and I started to realize my Project. South East Asian Artists Magazine

In the last few years I am realizing the international group exhibitions Artquake series. I started from Artquake-1, 2,3,…. And in april 2022 I will realize the international group exhibition Artquake-9. As being Art Niğde International we are not getting any commissions on the sales of the works. If any collector wants to buy any art work we have the buyer contact the artist directly. The artist sends us the high resolution copy of his/her work, we print on canvas, frame and exhibit. To print the work on canvas, frame, exhibition portes, invitation cards, opening cocktail, high resolution certificate etc, every artist pays a participating fee (60 euros), Every artists are happy about this Project, because to pay 60 euros better than to pay hundreds of euros for transfer fee from one country to another. Also no customs problems, or without the problems of the damaged originals. I will contunie with Artquake-10, 11, 12 …. When end I do not any idea. Thank you so much for your great support… All the best and warm regards. Safa Büte Curator & President of Art Niğde International

Safa Bute, like his work, has inspired respect and admiration as he emerged from the obscurity of humble beginnings to become one of the most widely recognized and beloved artists in his homeland, Turkey. In the summer of 1987, Bute emerged as an artist and created the art technique now known throughout Turkey as the “Safa Bute Style”. Although Bute was unable to pursue the educational path he dreamed of as a child, he created a new style of art that has been the subject of increasing interest all over the world, as collectors in Europe and the USA follow his marks. Art critics reviewing exhibits agree that the style is unique. Now he is creating his art works at his studios located in Niğde city of Turkey. AWARDS AND HONORS 2007, Director of the 1. Adana City International Contemporary Art Biennale 2006, Honorary Member of Cultural Association Terra Dell´Arte in Italy 2005, Member of the Artistic Committee of the International Arad Biennale of Contemporary Art in Romania. 2003, 4th award winner of the International Florence Biennale of Contemporary Art in Italy. 2001, 2000 WAIS People Choice Award Winner at the “Ten Top World Artists Invitational Show” organized by Artists Own Registry in Australia. 1999 Nominated to the Time Magazine online poll in the category of Most Influential Artist of the 20th Century 1998 Featured artist at ArtQuest in USA

By James Langston , Art Educator Art Consulate for the Florence Biennale

JULIANA DOMNA COMES FROM TYANA 35X50CM INK ON PAPER

When I first met Safa I knew I had met an extraordinary artist because of the intrinsic quality found in his art works. Everyone walking by his display stopped and slowly slid into his intricate pieces. Each piece takes you into another time period; they seem to have been taken from some monastery study and made by monks under candlelight. Every image that Safa has made has the ability to leave an “after image” on your mind, forcing one to come back to look again. Can one work contain so much information, such strong emotions and a timeless quality? This man’s works do.

SAFA BÜTE'S DREAMS 70X150CM OIL ON CANVAS SAFA BUTE, a highly competent painter who has displayed a diversity of styles but has gone beyond, creating an avant- garde technique that now bears his name: "The Safa Bute Style." The eclectic world unveiled through his rich palette reminds us of Dali's surrealism. However, what catches our attention in Safa Bute's artworks are his captivating ink drawings. To me, they are strikingly similar to the drawings on Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks exhibited at the Louvres: technical, geometrical and exact in their measures and proportions. Expressed in black, white, grey and shades with contrasts that come from the light the dark and the spaces left. And no colours to distract the eye from the rigorous precision of lines, curves and the infinity of points. Yet these drawings that show the meticulousness of an engineer, a true display of mastery, are quite artistic, inspirational and full of esoteric significance. They introduce us to the artist's inner world, a visionary universe that is deeply immersed in the history of his beloved Turkey, the cradle of millennium civilizations. They come with clear existential and spiritual messages, qualified by John T Spike, Art Critic and historian, as "sacred works... to be studied and meditated upon with increasing respect." Multidimensional genres cutting across different periods and inspirations! But cohesive. The final tableau is all harmony. We stand in awe before the omnipresent EYE OF GOD that is sweeping rays of light over the universe while the running down precious tear is collected into a jar. Or the BIRTH OF ANATOLIA, where the artist’s world is comprised with extreme precision inside a chessboard! Tiles and squares limit the rectangular framework and sometimes spill way inside. Some of the human figures are similar to those carved on ancient monuments dating back to the history of mankind, found on mosaics and temples. Their heads and bodies are those of goddesses and emperors printed on antique coins. They seem to be gravitating in the protective amniotic fluid of a mother's womb! As for Safa Bute's paintings, they, too are DREAMS, a projection of his dreamlands expressed in forceful colours, the dominant color of which is this flamboyant red with all its tones and shades. And here again we find a world of his own, visions of the births of planets and galaxies, of fire and flames ! And little men in a ballet of life whirling up towards the light, at the rythm of the creation. The cosmos in gestation. The Genesis. FATIHA BENMANSOUR BEDRAN, Art Critic