Having gained well-deserved fame among art circles around the world, Turkish artist Ahmet Güneştekin's works are open to visit simultaneously at the Janus Pannonius Museum, Vasarely Museum and Zsolnay Museum in Hungary as of Thursday in the exhibition "Reflection and Resumption."

The exhibition offers an exclusive look into the practice of the artist through certain themes. This is one of the most comprehensive thematic exhibitions where contemporary artists' work is being presented together with the works of the founder of an art movement.

The Janus Pannonius Museum will present the works of the artist in a solo exhibition, while the Vasarely Museum will present the works of Güneştekin together with the works of Vasarely, the founder of op art (optic art). Zsolnay Museum, on the other hand, will present the artist's ceramic works together with the museum's permanent collection. The exhibition will be hosted by this esteemed museums in Pecs until Feb. 1, 2019.

The "Reflection and Resumption" exhibition consists of works named as optical cages by the artist, his 3D paintings, carpet works and patchworks he created via op art techniques, and his ceramics work he produced in the world-famous porcelain factory in Kütahya province, which was deemed as a sister city by Pecs. The thematic exhibition, which brings together the works of two leading contemporary artists, Victor Vasarely and Ahmet Güneştekin, creates a dialogue between the works of both artists and looks at the nature and resources of this dialogue.

The exhibition is curated by art historian Jozsef Sarkany, an expert in contemporary Hungarian art, including Victor Vasarely's works, and art historian Kemal Orta, the art director of Güler Sanat.

Jozsef Sarkany stated that "Reflection and Resumption" is one of the most important exhibitions that has taken place in Milan, Cairo, Vienna, Brussels, Madrid, Gordes and Istanbul in the last decade where Vasarely's art was rediscovered.

Güneştekin applies the techniques that Vasarely uses in op art works to increase the three-dimensional effect of forms created by perspective distortion. He transforms the form through color contrasts and contrasts of tones. According to Sarkany, there is a significant difference between the methods applied by both artists.

While Vasarely works with smooth surfaces and homogeneous colors to create geometric optical illusions, Güneştekin creates extremely rich surfaces within color points. The purpose of Vasarely's work is to create imaginative compositions that provoke the eye of the viewer with misleading gaps and indefinite situations.

He further explained that Güneştekin's art has a universal nature; it looks at the basic question of humanity, the source of life and it applies the game of perception in different ways. A cosmic, planetary space illusion dominates his works. On such a surface, the viewer can discover mythological narratives regarding creation and existence grouped around two closely related concepts.

Vasarely's abstract and geometrical works are characterized by the optical effects of motion and unstable, ambiguous images. While he uses these virtual games as morphological motives, Güneştekin uses these games as metaphors. According to Kemal Orta, Güneştekin's approach is more about closely intertwining with op art in order to find new forms of expression for figurative abstraction and to find new areas for his unique technique. Güneştekin sees op art as a means of expanding his artistic practice, not a means on its own.

Sarkany noted that Güneştekin's works displayed in Pecs are looking for answers to the most fundamental question of life; creation, and therefore, these works have strong intellectual and emotional content. He believes this is why he mostly uses red and yellow colors and shades. These are the colors of the sun, which turns into a white glow and also the colors of life and the universe. "Reflection and Resumption" focuses on the theme of spiritual love through the concepts of creation and existence. The thematic setup created by the way works are placed in the exhibition space offers a new look at Güneştekin's method of transforming elements of the monotheistic religions and the patterns of Anatolian and Mesopotamian legends into patterns of work. It gives the viewers an opportunity to observe the transformation of the idea of optical illusion in Güneştekin's works and thus to look at the op art movement from an extraordinary point of view and from different perspectives.