Istanbul-based Ali Gulec is a graphic artist with a difference. His surreal illustrations are like identikit drawings aiming to prosecute the material arts. Working on the margins of what is possible with his medium, Gulec's forms, figures, and situations are remarkable for their clarity and strength of purpose, and maintain an iconographic intensity that would make any rock band bereft of an album cover salivate with admiration.

A girl wearing a mask takes part in a procession celebrating the religious holiday of Mawlid al-Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Mohammad, in Benghazi, Libya December 10, 2016. (Photo by Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters)

A man sells traditional doll toys and sweets for children to celebrate the birthday of prophet Muhammad, also known as “mawlid al nabi”, which will fall next week, in a makeshift tent in Cairo, December 30, 2014. (Photo by Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)

Meeting of Hawaii artist, John Al Hogue. Known as the "Modern Master of Light", he is one of the best selling nature artists in Hawaii, Florida, and Japan. Al uses light and detailed brush strokes to allow you, the viewer, to experience the feeling of stepping into his paintings. His artwork features seascapes, cityscapes, moonscapes, sunsets, wildlife and seal life subjects.

People look at a man, who residents said was killed by al Qaeda militants, hanging on a bridge in Yemen's southeastern city of Mukalla June 17, 2015. Al Qaeda militants in Yemen killed two alleged Saudi spies, residents said, accusing them of planting tracking devices which enabled the assassination of the group's leader in a suspected U.S. drone strike. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

An army tank fires during a firefight against militants linked to al Qaeda near the southern Yemeni city of Zinjibar May 30, 2012. (Photo by Reuters/Yemen's Defence Ministry)

Light is the sole reason why life exists. It provides us with warmth; it allows us to see; it nourishes all the living things on this planet. Many painters, especially the masters of Old Renaissance Period, have recognized the importance of light and its intimate connection with nature and life itself. In their paintings they gave tribute to light, giving the impression that their paintings had a light source hidden within them. Al Hogue, the artist who created the paintings that you see before you, has studied their techniques for many years. As time went by, light permeated not only his paintings by also his life, becoming his sole philosophy.