As Turkish contemporary artists and galleries open to the international art scene, the awareness and knowledge of the country’s art scene has also increased. With the new trends in world contemporary art, Turkey’s art scene has become more famous. The Hürriyet Daily News spoke to 15 prominent names in the Turkish art scene to find out about the rising names in the country
As the season begins in Turkey’s art scene, many new and upcoming artists have entered the frame. While Contemporary Istanbul art fair is approaching, hopes are high and many are waiting to be discovered both as galleries and as artists. Yet, the question remains the same, who are the rising names in the Turkish market?
We spoke to 10 art specialists to discover up-and-coming artists in the Turkish market this season. Rabia Güreli, vice chairperson of Contemporary Istanbul; Yasemin Bay, the editor-in-chief of Istanbul Art News; Kerimcan Güleryüz, owner of The Empire Project; Burcu Öztürkler, an art specialist and business developer; Bengü Gün, director of the Mixer Art Gallery; Aslı Sümer, owner of the Sümer Art Gallery; Mehmet Kahraman, curator and owner of REM art space, Marcus Graf, curator and program director at Contemporary Istanbul; and Amira Akbıyıkoğlu, associate director of Pilot Gallery, gave their thoughts on who to follow.
1. Alican Leblebici, an artist interested in self-portraits exploring ways to refresh people’s relationship with the form of art, made his debut with the Akbank Contemporary Artists Prize exhibition in 2014.
As the season begins in Turkey’s art scene, many new and upcoming artists have entered the frame. While Contemporary Istanbul art fair is approaching, hopes are high and many are waiting to be discovered both as galleries and as artists. Yet, the question remains the same, who are the rising names in the Turkish market?
We spoke to 10 art specialists to discover up-and-coming artists in the Turkish market this season. Rabia Güreli, vice chairperson of Contemporary Istanbul; Yasemin Bay, the editor-in-chief of Istanbul Art News; Kerimcan Güleryüz, owner of The Empire Project; Burcu Öztürkler, an art specialist and business developer; Bengü Gün, director of the Mixer Art Gallery; Aslı Sümer, owner of the Sümer Art Gallery; Mehmet Kahraman, curator and owner of REM art space, Marcus Graf, curator and program director at Contemporary Istanbul; and Amira Akbıyıkoğlu, associate director of Pilot Gallery, gave their thoughts on who to follow.
1. Alican Leblebici, an artist interested in self-portraits exploring ways to refresh people’s relationship with the form of art, made his debut with the Akbank Contemporary Artists Prize exhibition in 2014.
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| Alican Leblebici in front of his work |
2. Sabo Akdağ’s works focus on reflecting social issues by drawing peculiar figures. In his works, we aren’t surprised to see issues of family values, work environment and social life.
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| Sabo Akdağ’s work: Saturday |
3. Hera Büyüktaşçıyan, an artist who loves to question the relationship between identity, memory, space and time, does this by using metaphors from local myths, historic and iconographic elements, and opens a new narrative scope for “the other.”
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| Hera Büyüktaşçıyan’s work: Looking for somewhere to land from her previous exhibition at Stockholm,. Image from Rampa Art Gallery |
4. Yuşa Yalçıntaş, meanwhile, is known for his peculiar and mysterious drawings, his mono, expressionless child figures and unrealistic spaces that have reached audiences. While creating something that we are completely unfamiliar with, he offers his own detailed world with a miniaturist approach.
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| Yuşa Yalçıntaş’ work titled Game, Image from one of his previous exhibitions at Pi Artworks |
5. Eren Bayrak mostly uses ready-images and then manipulates graphic and composition values of these images within a new context. Images that change their original meanings reconstruct with different mediums to create new meanings.
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| Eren Bayrak’s work Untitled, Image from artist’s gallery Mixer Arts |
6. Zeynep Birced is a young artist who seeks to investigate the delicacy of the human condition. According to Birced, everyday existence is always in a predetermined shape, and she looks at ways to deconstruct that form to create new opportunities.
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| Zeynep Birced’s work Church, Image from artist’s website |
7. Bahar Yörükoğlu, an art and design graduate who completed her master’s degree in photography, loves combining photography, video and sculptural elements to alter spaces both indoors and in landscapes.
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| Bahar Yörükoğlu’s work Accession, Image from artist’s exhibition at Arter |
8. Volkan Kızıltunç is a Turkish photographer, video artist and academic. In 2013, he won the ESSL ART AWARD CEE, which is organized by the ESSL Contemporary Art Museum Vienna, with his video work “The Unspectacular.” In 2015, he also won the Akbank Contemporary Artists Prize with his video work “Typology of Memories.”
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| Volkan Kızıltunç’s work Geçmiş (Past), Image from artist’s earlier exhibition (Eşik(te)) at Merkür |
9. Ozan Türkkan is a Paris-based, new media artist who has worked for many years in the field of multimedia and digital art in different countries. Türkkan’s works are centered on experimental media and digital arts with a focus on generative computer art, fractals, algorithmic art and moving images.
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| Ozan Türkkan in front of his work |
10. HUO Rf, an Istanbul-based artist, uses a pseudonym for his appearances in exhibitions. He is one of the co-founders of an Istanbul-based artist collective called Signs of Time.
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| HUO rf.’s work titled Broken and You III from his solo exhibition at Öktem Aykut Gallery |
11. Sibel Kocakaya is among the artists who defines and rediscovers figure on canvas. Looking through a perspective of a certain figure, Kocayaka explores different mediums in her creation of art such as photography and drawing.
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| Sibel Kocakaya’s work Untitled, Image from artist’s website |
12. Rasim Aksan’s works on canvas are created by oil and acrylic paints alongside calligraphy and marbling ink, with the latter applied by airbrush. His works on paper showcase the additional use of pencils and crayons without using oil paint.
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| Şafak 13 (detail), Image from his gallery Galerist |
13. Berkay Buğdanoğlu draws on themes of transience, chaos and the human footprint. Buğdanoğlu’s works incorporate various industrial materials and data analysis techniques with classical painting and sculpture.
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| Berkay Buğdanoğlu’s work Mesh, Image from artist’s gallery Mixer Arts |
14. Yusuf Sevinçli has a way of expressing himself via photography. His way of seeing things opens new dimensions in photography while the artist prefers to show the audience a whole new work via his perspective.
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| Yusuf Sevinçli’s work from Good Dog series, Image from artist’s website |
15. Özgür Demirci is an artist we watch while he creates videos, performances, objects, and site-specific installations. His work is rooted in socio-cultural codes that capture the human experience and entails gestures and transformations based upon such observations.
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| From the Silver Screen to Soccer Field｜Video Installation, Image from artist’s website |