Arto Yuzbasiyan

Arto Yuzbasiyan

Arto Yuzbasiyan was born in 1948 in Istanbul, Turkey to a talented, pianist mother and a father who was a textile manufacturer. Though he did not play a musical instrument like much of his mother's family, he was interested in drawing and painting. At the age of eight, he began taking lessons from a religious painter by the name of Ojeni Telyan. He was profoundly influenced by her traditional, classical style. Later on, he studied under Bedri Rahmi Eyuboglu for a brief period of time and Mustafa Pilevneli. Nonetheless, Arto claims that his main influence was Telyan's teachings.

Yuzbasiyan immigrated to Canada in 1973 to reunite with his childhood love and marry. Here, his career as an artist emerged. Quiet downtown corners where life is carried on harmoniously, with little or no effort, have become the focus of his art. The inhabitants go about their business unaware, hurrying home in a winter storm or waiting for one of Arto's ever-present streetcars to arrive.