What happens when science, art, and philosophy collide?
Celik Kayalar is here to show the result.
Celik is a biochemist-turned-filmmaker who has founded an entirely new art form called Layerism. While others combine color, Celik adds depth, literally. His technique of stacking canvases, cutting through surfaces, and revealing inner layers challenges everything we know about the art of painting.
Born in 1949 and educated as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Celik earned his PhD in biochemistry. His research even contributed to a Nobel Prize. But instead of staying in the lab, he chose to step into the world of visual storytelling.
Today, he’s known not just for his science or film work, but for transforming the art world with his bold and textured vision.
What Is Layerism?
It would be too shallow to call Layerism a simple painting style. The truth is, it’s a philosophical statement, a vision of its own.
Celik paints on multiple canvases stacked on top of one another. He then tears, cuts, and peels sections to reveal the layers beneath, resulting in an art that pulls the viewer inward. Viewers don’t just look at a Layerist painting; they experience it.
Each piece feels like a conversation between surfaces. “Ascent” shows evolution through a visual climb from insects to humanity. “Abyss” captures obsession through a falling rose. “Fade Out” plays with perception, depending on the background it’s hung on. This approach brings movement, psychology, and mystery into each composition.
In Celik’s words, Layerism lets the canvas breathe. Viewers are invited to question what’s hidden, what’s exposed, and what that says about reality.
Where Science Meets Canvas
Celik’s scientific background shapes how he thinks. His paintings are structured, like experiments. Each layer is intentional. Each cut is calculated.
Take “Einstein’s Space-Time.” It reflects the very structure of reality. “Layers of the Freudian Mind” dives into psychoanalysis, revealing thoughts buried beneath the surface. Even “The Descent of Man” nods to Darwin, using four canvases to show the chain of evolution.
You can see the method behind the madness. Celik fuses logic and imagination in a way that few artists attempt.
More Than Paint: A Multi-Talented Creator
Painting is only one side of Celik’s creative coin. He’s also an award-winning filmmaker, actor, writer, and the founder of Film Acting Bay Area (FABA) in Berkeley, California.
Through FABA, he trains aspiring actors using real-world projects. His films, like Moonlight Sonata, 99%, and Valentin Popov: FACE, feature many of his students. These aren’t just side projects. They’ve won awards, screened at festivals, and made waves in the indie circuit.
His work across media has one thing in common: a drive to show what lies beneath the surface. Whether it’s a canvas, a script, or a human face, Celik wants to explore what others overlook.
Art With a Message
Celik doesn’t shy away from controversy. “Kiss Christ” was his direct response to Serrano’s “Piss Christ.” Instead of mocking, Celik chose to honor. He painted two lips forming a cross, an image of love rather than anger.
In “Flag Burning,” he confronts mass incarceration. In “Prison Reform NOW,” he calls for justice. His paintings speak, shout, and sometimes whisper uncomfortable truths. He uses Layerism to ask hard questions about race, freedom, gender, belief, and identity.
His art becomes a dialogue between the viewer and society.
Global Influence, Local Roots
Though based in Berkeley, Celik’s influence is growing internationally. Critics, including modern art historian Professor Peter Selz, have praised his contributions. Selz once said, “Layerism is an amazing invention in Modern Art by Celik Kayalar.”
With prints sold globally, custom portraits available, and an ever-expanding portfolio, Celik’s work is reaching collectors, curators, and critics around the world. Each piece is signed, numbered, and limited, like chapters in an ongoing book.
Layerism might have started as one man’s experiment. But now, it’s part of a much larger movement.
Conclusion
Celik Kayalar is a disruptor in the clothes of an artist. He takes what we think we know about painting and slices it open. His work lingers in the mind long after the eye has lost contact with it.
Art can never be one-dimensional; Celik proves it. He shows how art isn’t flat. Neither is life. There are always more layers of color, of thought, of meaning. And sometimes, the only way to find them is to look beyond the surface.
