Mr. Deniz’s journey of painting started before he went to elementary school in Turkey and continued with commissioned drawings of cartoons for comics, studying at the graphic department of fine art of a fine Turkish Art School, ( Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University )and holding exhibitions composed of distinct illustrative drawings of his early years. His painting life lasted in Istanbul until his thirties and now continues in Florida where he lives with his wife. These fine paintings bring to America the elusive charm and feeling of Mediterranean - poor boats wandering the blue waters of charming Istanbul to catch fish. Bought by painting collectors of America, the beautiful paintings of his continued adventure painting seas and boats have shown to the world of art that these talented hands of the Mediterranean earned the outstanding reputation with his canvas, paints, mind and soul. When we observe the paintings of Ilkin Deniz, we see the following: The soul of a boat resting in the unique harmony of the blue of the sky with another blue of the water which perhaps is whispering a hope in the distant horizon. In another unseen horizon, prayers send to the God are secretly collected in a boat on shore. In that painting, the wise Goddess Athena is carrying from the depth of the see Odysseus who was captivated at the see by the boat in the painting. Sorrow and loneliness freed from the sharp light of the Mediterranean have hidden in that painting, manifesting themselves through the boat. By owning and displaying one of the paintings of Ilkin Deniz, you don’t possess an ordinary painting, but rather you come in touch with the unity of the melancholic charm of the Mediterranean with the boundless blue of ocean.