Arto Yuzbasiyan

Arto has been part of the Canadian art scene since 1973. His focus is on what many would consider being out of the way depictions of life. Quiet downtown corners where life is lived in harmony with the city is what he captures. These are moments when city dwellers go about their business unaware of his brush. The subjects hurry home through a winter storm or they wait for an ever-present streetcar to arrive.

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 the rest of his mother’s talented family, he was interested in drawing and painting and so at the age of eight, he started 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.

In 1972 he worked in Paris and in a small town in the Netherlands repairing Oriental tribal carpets, another passion of his besides painting.

Eventually, Arto immigrated to Canada in 1973 to reunite with his childhood love and marry. There his career as an artist emerged. What makes his work special and meaningful is its focus on the out of the way. 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.