Arto Yuzbasiyan
Arto Yuzbasiyan - Artist Biography
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.
Select Solo Exhibitions
2006 Balzac Fine Art Toronto, Ontario
2004 Galerie D'Art Vincent Ottawa, Ontario
2001 Roberts Gallery Toronto
1994 Roberts gallery Toronto
1993 Decor Gallery New Jersey, USA
1990 Kaspar Gallery Toronto
1988 University of Toronto, Erindale Campus Mississauga, Ontario
1988 Galerie Bernard Desroches Montréal, Québec
1987 Setadel Studios with Royal Canadian Artillery Toronto
1985 Kaspar Gallery Toronto
1983 Kaspar Gallery Toronto
1982 Kaspar Gallery Toronto
1980 Kaspar Gallery Toronto
1980 Kastel Gallery Montréal, Québec
1979 Johnson Gallery Edmonton, Alberta
1979 Janrielle Gallery Niagara Falls, Ontario
1978 Studio Six Art Gallery Toronto
1977 Studio Six Art Gallery Toronto
1977 Gallery of Fine Art Thunder Bay, Ontario
1976 Damkjar Burton Gallery Hamilton, Ontario
1976 Aida Gallery Brampton, Ontario
1975 Gallery of Fine Art Thunder Bay, Ontario
Select Group Exhibitions
2001 Roberts Gallery Artists Choice Toronto
2000 Roberts Gallery Artists Choice (Sketches) Toronto
1999 Roberts Gallery Artists Choice (Sketches) Toronto
1999 Asia Invitation Art Exhibition Seoul, S. Korea
1999 Roberts Gallery Artists Choice Toronto
1998 Hamazkain Art Gallery Toronto
1998 Asia Invitation Art Exhibition Seoul, S. Korea
1998 Roberts Gallery Artists Choice Toronto
1997 Asia Invitation Art Exhibition Seoul, S. Korea
1997 Roberts Gallery Artists Choice Toronto
1996 Roberts Gallery Artists Choice Toronto
1995 Roberts Gallery Artists Choice Toronto
1993 Société des Arméniens d'Istanbul Montréal, Québec
1993 Artist choice Roberts Gallery Toronto
1991 Seoul Watercolour int. Seoul, S. Korea
1991 The Taegu Int. Art Biennale Exibition Seoul, S. Korea
1988 88 Seoul Olympic Games Seoul, S. Korea
1988 Collection of int. Watercolour Paintings Seoul, S. Korea
1986 Watercolour Canadian Impression Toronto
1986 Kaspar Gallery Toronto
1983 Kaspar Gallery Collectors Choice Toronto
1982 Toronto Through Artist Eye Toronto
1982 Kaspar Gallery Toronto
1980 Canadian Watercolour 1830-1980 Toronto
1980 Kaspar Gallery Toronto
1980 Kaspar Gallery Collectors Choice Toronto
1979 Exhibition of Defasco Collection Hamilton, Ontario
1979 Art Gallery of Hamilton Hamilton, Ontario
1977 Annual Art Exhibit Toronto
1977 Alpha Omega Women Ass. Toronto
1976 Annual Art Exhibit Toronto
1976 Alpha Omega Women Ass. Toronto
1975 Annual Art Exhibit Toronto
1975 Alpha Omega Women Ass. Toronto
Collections:
TD Canada Trust
Thomson Works of Art
Rogers Communications
Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Air Canada
University of Toronto
University Health Network Sunnybrook Hospital
Toronto Public Library
Tillbury Public Library
Allstate Insurance Company
IBM Canada
Bell Canada
Imperial Oil Ltd
Cadillac Fairview Ltd.
North American Life
Canada Packers Ltd
Toronto Board of Trade
Canadian General Electric Company
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
Royal Insurance Company
Hallmark Cards
Defasco Steel Inc.
Toronto Transit Commission
DuPont Canada
Musee du Quebec
General Foods Inc
Artistic Approach: Arto moved to Canada in 1973. This marked the beginning of a new era in his life. Arto became fascinated with the rugged beauty of this country and started painting its lifescapes comprised of the landscape and rural scenery. While he had been commissioned to do many rural images, Arto was most taken by the growing vibrancy of his new home, Toronto. He worked diligently and quickly to capture many scenes of that city. Toronto was changing as it grew rapidly and he worked to capture images that would soon disappear from the day to day life of Toronto. The streetcars, people going about their daily business, corner stores that were going to succumb to progress in a few years, became his passion as well as his subjects. Arto soon became well know for these images, capturing the soul of both Toronto and its inhabitants. In the eighties Arto started travelling to other cities and has applied his special insight to other Canadian cities such as Thunder Bay, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City. By the 1990's he had already established himself as an important Canadian contemporary artist. Throughout that time his medium was both watercolour as well as oil on canvas and board. By the time the decade and the millennium changed, Arto's works of art were already in many collections in Canada, The United States as well as in Europe. Long Canadian winters and how its citizens cope and deal with it continue to preoccupy the subject matter. At the change of the millennium, Arto was represented by galleries in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal as well as New York. He has also started using Istanbul, his childhood city, as imagery in his paintings. To paint this city, Arto uses images from his memory combining them with his feelings about that city.
