Featured Artist for September 1998

Our Macaw Supervisors thought a close up of the bird in this GiveAway had to be shown for the intricate detail that is missed in viewing the overall work in a size to fit your monitor... Featured GiveAway by Safa Bute My Fantasies - 5, 15" x 9 3/4", Ink on Draftsmen Plastic, 1990 Valued at $4000

Kathy Felton Jamesburg, NJ

Because of the tedious detail in Safa Bute's work, he creates only 3 - 4 original art works a year. It takes thousands of hours (as well as patience) to create a work with thousands of intricate lines without the use of guides or rulers. This GiveAway, My Fantasies - 5, is laced with many of these fine details that have become known as the "Safa Bute Style".


MEET THE ARTIST

Featured Artist Safa Bute

Safa Bute, (pronounced szafa bootay) was born on September 24, 1958 in Nigde, which is a small city near Cappadocia, Turkey. He has never had any academic art education which has helped him establish his own "style". He started creating art before he could even read or write and had his first solo exhibition at the tender age of twelve. His feelings, his thoughts, his fantasies and dreams make him want to create his style of art. He doesn't even care if he has food, clothing or cigarettes, as long as he can create art that brings him fulfillment.

Safa is quite creative in the late evening up to the wee hours of the morning but feels most creative after making love. He begins by picturing a work in his own mind (some even appear in his dreams), then consciously creates this thought process on paper or canvas. His work is intensely detailed with very fine, almost delicate lines that encompass the "Safa Bute Style". Many people who have attended his exhibits, as well as critics in his own country, have unsuccessfully tried to categorize his work. Safa has since visited the Library and searched every book he could lay his hands on from the 14th century through the present day artists and has come away with nothing that even resembles his work. Experts and attendees at his exhibits have come to know his work as simply the "Safa Bute Style."

When drawing, it is just not possible for Safa to erase; and he amazingly, does not use rulers, guides or stencils. He mentions the hardest part for him "Is to create the image in his mind". An incredibly talented draftsman, he creates using ink, pens, pencils, brushes, fingers and even his own blood on occasion for color. Scholer Paper and Canvas are usually the foundation for his marks.

Due to scarce cultural funding in the late 1980's, the idea of having an exhibition seemed impossible for Safa. But in 1990, he opened his first exhibition at a bank's art gallery. Shortly thereafter, other banks and government art galleries began supporting his shows. Safa has now enjoyed over 25 solo exhibitions in different cities throughout Turkey and is actively pursuing his current aesthetic in the "Safa Bute Style".

He enjoys music, reading and walking the coasts and forest. He usually works at his house but will travel to the forest on the weekends to be alone and to create. Asked what he loves about life and he responds "Art, art, art... natural life, my mother, traveling and the smell of the earth after it rains." He is not fond of anyone who lies and simply abhors that in anyone. He is a great problem solver and will go to great lengths to solve a dilemma of any sort. Here is now working on some of his oil paintings after 12 years!

	Safa is a Muslim and believes in Jesus. "In the year 2000, there will be celebrations around the world for Jesus’s 2000th birthday. These celebrations will also be held in Turkey, due to the tomb of Madonna located here. I want to join in these celebrations with my art. The red color on Jesus’s feet is my own blood."
Jesus, 1997 20 x 14", Ink on Paper

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Safa graduated from the University of Anatolia with a major in Business Management. After his duty in the army, he worked as a technical translator at the Afsin-Elbistan Power Plant. He is now employed at the Incirlik Air Base and the income helps him care for his mother and allows him the freedom to create. In 1987, the "Safa Bute Style" emerged and private collectors in the United States and Europe have followed the progress of his marks ever since.

The unbelievable amount of energy it takes to create such tedious drawings calls upon an intense amount of patience and time. And since it takes so much time for an original to emerge, two Americans and a Turkish art collector helped Safa develop reproductions last year. Four of his originals were created in limited editions of 10 so that others could enjoy his work and afford to collect it at the same time. His original works would be considered investments in art.

He continues to work in his own art-studio in Adana and is also interested in amateur theater. In 1993, his first comedy book "The Story of Wasps" was published.

My Fantasies was also created to support the natural life. "Safa asks: What are we doing to our planet? Please, let’s save it for the future, not only for us but for our children."
	My Fantasies, 14 x 20" Ink on Paper, 1994

Safa's work will continue to amaze collectors and critics alike. Each work consists of thousands of thin, perfectly constructed lines that bring the overall body of the work to the forefront. When viewing one of Safa's works at a distance, it draws you to it simply to inspect the literally thousands of marked lines that compose the work. Safa will continually be recognized for his talent and these marks he has left for the world to see. We congratulate Safa Bute for his originality and for contributing "His Style" to the art community worldwide.

	The Window shows us yet another strength of Safa Bute. His mastery of shadows and light is quite evident and gives us another glimpse into the life that eminates in Safa's art.
The Window, 40 x 44" Oil on Canvas, 1998

EXHIBITIONS

1987-present

Akbank Art Gallery - Adana
Yapi Kredi Art Gallery - Balikesir
Sivas State Fine Arts Gallery - Sivas
Yapi Kredi Ofis Art Gallery - Diyarbakir
Yapi Kredi Mustafabey Art Gallery - Izmir
Akbank Denizli Art Gallery - Denizli
Adana Municipal Art Gallery - Adana
Akbank Ordu Art Gallery - Ordu
Yapi Kredi Setbasi Art Gallery - Bursa
Akbank Isparta Art Gallery - Isparta
Akbank Trabzon Art Gallery - Trabzon
ACS Art Gallery - Adana
Akbank Koprubasi Art Gallery - Eskisehir
Akbank Cankaya Art Gallery - Ankara
Akbank Art Gallery - Adana (1995)
Icel Art Club Art Gallery - Mersin
Akbank Art Gallery - Bursa
Akbank Kizilay Art Gallery - Ankara
Akbank Beylerbeyi Art Gallery - Istanbul

Contact the Artist

Please Email ArtQuest for sales information

A FEW WORDS FROM THE ARTIST

When I was a little child, before I even started school, I would go to bed with art and then wake up with art. I have always believed that one day everyone would recognize "Safa Bute and his style". I have never been educated in art but I believe that God has trained me by giving me the dreams to create art. Special thanks to dear Kathy Kahre at ArtQuest for her help in acknowledging my art and to artist, Victor Hsieh who discovered my talent and brought it to her attention. Thanks as well to artist, Sera Ersu, for her article at Artindex and to art critics Tom Jenkins, Arthur Robinson, Thomas Novak, Horvarth Adam, Professor Dr. P. Sema Kedici, Ed Stevens, Bekir Ozdemir and to all the other art lovers and critics who have helped me and my art by writing their articles. ~ Safa Bute