Painter Ömer Onay's works were discussed in "Stream of Consciousness Talks"

In the talk held at the AKM Multi-Purpose Hall, author Ekrem Ayyıldız stated that real works of art contribute to understanding the world, humans and existence.

Expressing that tradition has an important value in art, Ayyıldız said, "A work of art contributes to understanding existence. This contribution has come from ancient times to the present day. In this context, tradition can also be used as a synonym for culture and civilization."

Ayyıldız stated that the problems that arise in tradition lead to certain crises and said, "When we look at tradition from today, we establish a contrast. Tradition does not have a meaning that can be suddenly gotten rid of. Art is one of the carriers of the tradition in question."

Ekrem Ayyıldız, who said that the crisis emerged with the change and innovation in tradition, expressed his view that "The social and political meaning of the crisis is also reflected in literature. Crises bring with them new forms of expression. In general, tradition is either rejected or accepted within artistic movements or continued with a synthesis. The critical question here is 'Is it possible to escape from tradition?'"

Ayyıldız stated that the understanding of modernism in painting manifested itself in the form of "primitivism" with anti-traditional products, and said, "As a result of modernism, there is an effort to return to the first rhythms and drawings before tradition in both painting and music. This return to primitiveness is in a sense an effort to return to the essence. Here, the aim is to return painting to its 'first principles'. In this way, it is assumed that tradition will be surpassed."

Ayyıldız emphasized that it is ultimately impossible to escape from tradition, and noted the following:

"It is not possible to create a work without benefiting from tradition. We have to connect to it in some way. It is possible to see this in Onay's painting. Ömer Onay has entered into a relationship with tradition within the framework of a new search. His works have been formed by the reflections of different traditions. He has created works that present the past and the present together."

Master architect Ahmet Yılmaz also stated that in order to perceive an object, cultural accumulation and knowledge are also needed in addition to seeing, touching or hearing.

Expressing that in order to understand a work of art, it is necessary to recognize the semantic world of the product beyond the formal meaning, Yılmaz said, "In order to understand Ömer Onay's painting, we need to go beyond the formal meanings of the figures in his works. In his paintings, we see some living and inanimate geometric patterns moving on a ground as if they were alive. In this sense, it can be said that Ömer Onay's works have a dynamic structure."

Yılmaz stated that the forms and figures produced are a reflection of the artist's world of meaning and noted:

"Mere formal readings will not provide us with sufficient information about the work of art. The works that Ömer Onay presents in terms of scale, abstraction and depth bear the traces of the civilization accumulation that we have come to culturally. The succession of figures in Onay's paintings cannot be read as a semantic repetition as in miniature. These are objects and drawings that have no repetition. Onay's products present reality and fairytale-like together. Islamic art never rejects nature but presents it by abstracting it and sees it as vulgar to convey nature as it is. This is a conscious effort of Islamic art. Onay's works also are dominated by the effort to reproduce objects on an infinite ground without distorting them through abstraction."