Hillstrom Museum of Art presents drawings by imprisoned Turkish journalist/artist Fevzi YaziciApril 9, 2022 at 1–5 p.m.

On view at the Hillstrom Museum of Art from February 14 through April 24, 2022, will be Fevzi Yazici: DARK WHITE, featuring over 40 drawings by imprisoned Turkish journalist and artist Fevzi Yazici (b.1972).

Shown concurrently with DARK WHITE will be Recent Donations and Other Acquisitions of the Hillstrom Museum of Art.

There will be an opening reception for the two exhibits on Monday, February 14, 2022, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Fevzi Yazici, who holds a degree in graphic design from Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul, served as the design director of the city’s Zaman newspaper until 2016.  At that time, the Turkish government shuttered the paper, and Yazici and colleagues were imprisoned as part of that crackdown on freedom of the press following a coup attempt against the government party.

Yazici was originally sentenced to life in prison on terrorism charges but in 2019 the Turkish Supreme Court reduced his sentence to 11 years and 3 months.  He has appealed the adjusted sentence and while imprisoned has continued to produce meticulous drawings on paper.

Most of the works in DARK WHITE were done from Yazici’s prison cell in the Silivri Prison in Istanbul.  His drawings are subtle in imagery and shading and are created using what has been described as a “thousands of spots technique,” which he uses to make detailed transitions from white to black.

DARK WHITE appeared in its original form in early 2020 at the Yeh Art Gallery at St. John’s University in Queens, New York, which organized and is circulating the exhibit.  The version at the Hillstrom Museum of Art includes 20 new drawings by Yazici.  It is supported by a grant from the Tourism and Visitors’ Bureau of the Saint Peter Chamber of Commerce.

A fully illustrated catalogue for Fevzi Yazici: DARK WHITE will be available free of charge at the exhibit.  A pdf version of the catalogue will be available on the Museum website at https://gustavus.edu/finearts/hillstrom/, as will a link to a video walk-through tour of the exhibit that is being planned for inclusion on the College’s YouTube channel.

The concurrent exhibition Recent Donations and Other Acquisitions of the Hillstrom Museum of Art features over 30 artworks acquired by the Hillstrom Museum of Art since mid-2018, mostly the result of donations from 10 new donors and one repeat donor.  Twenty American artists are represented in the group of paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture.  Nine are artists new to the Hillstrom Collection, among them Paul Cadmus (1904-1999), Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1889-1953), and Ross Moffett (1888-1971).

The Museum is grateful to the donors of the works on view: Mary, Lisa, and Martin Austin; Ann Bruggeman; Deborah Dash Moore and Deena Dash Kushner; Mac Cosgrove-Davies; the Walter S. Feldman Trust for Artwork at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island; the Joseph and Betsy Ritz Friebert Family Partnership; Andrew Hellmund; Gary and Carol Langness; Daniel Shogren and Susan Meyer; James F. White; and James Woods and Sons.

As with the concurrent DARK WHITE exhibit, a fully illustrated catalogue for Recent Donations and Other Acquisitions of the Hillstrom Museum of Art will be available free of charge at the exhibit.  A pdf version of the catalogue will be available on the Museum website at https://gustavus.edu/finearts/hillstrom/, as will a link to a video walk-through tour of the exhibit that is being planned for inclusion on the College’s YouTube channel.

Regular Museum hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and weekends, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.  All exhibitions and related programming are free and open to the public.

NOTE that COVID restrictions currently in place at Gustavus Adolphus College require that masks be worn indoors, including in the Hillstrom Museum of Art.  For updates to COVID restrictions, see the Museum website at www.gustavus.edu/hillstrom.

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