Source: http://artlog.art50.net/backstage-with-artists/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 02:30:30+00:00

Document:
The urban experience in İpek Yeğinsü’s photographs is more about dynamic and blurry impressions rather than static images. As a long-time member of the Art50.net family with her contributions to the website’s content and her almost abstract expressionist photographs, we talked to Yeğinsü about her Art50.net experience, her multi-dimensional career and her artistic practice.
Concepts from the unconscious symbolized by colors, deep dilemmas inherent in the social reality we live in and difficulties originating from our primitive desires lie at the center of Güliz Baydemir’s artistic practice. How about taking a privileged journey into Baydemir’s universe of thoughts, who sees painting as her favorite instrument of expression and whose theoretical background based on her academic identity is deeply felt in her oeuvre?
The new member of the Art50.net family, Coşkun Sami is an artist and intellectual who improved himself in every sense of the word and approaches art history with a genuine passion. We enjoyed diving into an ocean of knowledge with Sami who carries the influence of the years he spent growing up in Bulgaria and who often draws artistic inspiration from the Russian-Soviet history of art and artists.
Işıl Ulaş stands out as a young artist with a daring drawing style and an original compositional approach. As one of the newest members of the Art50.net family, we dove with Ulaş into a world of authentic figures and we took a closer look at her sources of inspiration.
As a new and young member of the Art50.net family, Damla Yalçın questions in her oeuvre the roles assigned to women, where she combines her journey into her own past with images borrowed from society’s memory. We talked to Yalçın about her artistic quest, her subjects of interest and dreams for the future.
The first thing that comes to mind about Kerem Durukan is, without doubt, the bold range of colors in his vibrant compositions full of energy. We had a pleasant conversation with Durukan, who received education in several creative fields including painting, graphic design and industrial design, and combined elements from each with the simplicity that he found in primitive art.
Begüm Mütevellioğlu is one of the earliest members of the Art50.net family. While tracing the deepest memories in her peaceful compositions, she tackles subjects like the relationship between the individual and the place as well as the construction of identity through place. In our conversation with her we examined her new series of works about plants, the latter also being one of her personal areas of interest.
Filiz Piyale carries an artistic and academic identity simultaneously, and the intellectual aspect of art is of utmost importance for her. We talked to Piyale, who believes that man can only find peace by confronting his tension with nature, about the origins of her artistic practice and her future projects.
Mehmet Çevik’s authentic personality finds its expression in the worlds of his fairy tale-like paintings. We took a colourful journey into Çevik the artist’s story, with his childhood heroes keeping us company.
How did your first encounter with painting take place? Did you use to paint when you were a child?
I can say I was first introduced to the ‘act of painting’ with the children’s show “Sesame Street” on TRT. On the other hand, I learnt about canvas from Bob Ross and his show on TRT 2, “The Joy of Painting”. I used to watch Bob’s brush strokes with my family, with our mouths wide open in amazement. I think the generation born in the 80s in the countryside and raised with the subculture owe a lot to Bob. I did my first oil painting in high school and I intended to paint a snowy landscape just like Bob used to. I didn’t like my first try so I smahed it with my head! Although I thought I wasn’t good enough, my painting teacher at that time realized I was passionate and encouraged me to consider going to a fine arts high school. Thus I started my career by enrolling in the Adana Fine Arts High School.
In your works, you hide uncanny stories behind a child-like, almost ‘cute’ language. When and how did this style emerge? Where do you draw inspiration from?
This effect might be due to the fact that I still keep the fantasy world of the Sesame Street and the characters in The Muppet Show very much alive within me. I’m not a Melancholy Activist. There are stories and the paintings do the talking; but their language is a little different. It’s like speaking Pagan. I’m not concerned about understanding and interpreting either; I don’t look for a conclusion or context. The tale continues even if we fall asleep listening to it. Actually, I previously worked as teaching staff at the academy and this style of mine emerged after I left. I think the academic language suffers from fatigue and I find it extremely boring.
Writers and artists you regularly follow?
There are no artists, writers, politicians, friends or people I regularly follow. I read whatever I come across; I look at, listen to and live with what or whomever I encounter. I try not to be too selective. There is something to be found in everything! I believe that all kinds of opportunities for inspiration are there as long as one is motivated enough. In short, I’m a flexible person and I love living with coincidences!
Do you produce illustrations or comics as well? Is it among your plans for the future?
I tried such things in the past; but didn’t exactly pursue them. I don’t say I would never do them either. In my high school years I drew a lot of comics. I aspired to humor magazines; I used to buy the Pişmiş Kelle magazine on a weekly basis. Then the magazine disappeared from the scene and my interest in the subject faded away. The language of painting has changed and is still changing a lot; so it takes my entire concentration. Thus it’s very difficult for me to dedicate time for illustration.
How did your paths cross with Art50.net? In your opinion, what kind of contributions do online platforms have on young artists’ careers?
I was introduced to Art50.net via reference. Then I examined the website and liked it a lot. I approach conventional galleries rather cautiously. But online galleries are more flexible and in line with the spirit of our era, so to speak. We are in the digital age, after all. The information flow in the virtual environment is much faster and online platforms are very well adapted to this speed of circulation. Plus, online galleries have the opportunity to work with more artists compared to the conventional galleries; so they are able to offer the young and emerging artists a larger domain of opportunities for visibility.
I participate to several national and international exhibitions and art fairs. I also have some alternative and authentic solo and group projects I intend to realize independently.
Click for the artist’s page.
Umut Yalım is one of the most colorful, authentic and versatile figures of our contemporary art scene. Approaching the notion of art in his writings, drawings and performances from a critical perspective, Yalım talked to us about his journey as an artist, his areas of interest and his upcoming projects.
When did your fascination with art first begin? And how did Elvis enter your life?
My “Art” life began with those notebooks that parents hand to their children to keep them busy, with the only difference that I literally spent hours with them. This was around when I was 1-2 years old. I kept drawing non-stop until I was 11-12. Then I started writing. During that time, writing took precedence over drawing. And this was the very moment when Elvis stepped in. During high school I wasn’t someone who listened to a lot of music, unlike my age group in general. There wasn’t a singer I was crazy for either. I began to research the “Rockabilly” personalities once a classmate of mine in the UK told me “there was too much Rock’n’Roll” in my drawings. As soon as I did, I got my first slap in the face from Elvis. Both in his life story and his music, I found we had so much in common. I have been working with that parallelism ever since.
Let’s talk a bit about the art education you received in the UK. What was the process like? What kinds of contributions did it have on you?
The most typical aspect of the Anglo-American education system is its willingness to leave the individual alone, so that he can find his own way, with his own efforts. And unlike the French school system based on ateliers, it has a lot of room for freedom. As long as you are behind what you do and you maintain your position whatever happens, your professors provide you with all kinds of support. For me, the most important contributions of this structure have been self-confidence, resistance against the slavery of the mainstream artistic currents and an integrated approach towards all artistic disciplines. I think this is also the biggest problem for the artists in our country: adapting to the mainstream too quickly and confining yourself to one single path.
What are the main concepts and themes in your artistic practice? Who is this Rockabilly? And why him?
Essentially any subject. But I take that any subject and make it my own, and turn it into a symbol. Then I reduce this symbolism to the scale of an object or commodity. For instance, for me, a phone that rings despite being unplugged corresponds to waiting and any other subject matter related to it. And the handle of all these situations and subject matters is the Noncompliant Rockabilly. I can refer to him as my alter-ego. He’s like the summary of my last fifteen years. An Elvis-like personality. His clothes, his figure, his hair, his style, etc… As I identify myself with Elvis, this is how my alter-ego manifests itself in my works.
In addition to visual arts, you are deeply interested in literature, and more specifically, poetry. How do these two areas in your practice relate to each other? What are their similarities and differences both in terms of creative experience and subject matter?
I think poetry is more of a form of plastic art than it is a literary genre. In Edip Cansever’s words, “Poetry is something that you do”. Its writing is essentially a kind of drawing; writing the word “cat” is more beautiful than drawing the cat. We are already accustomed to use the text as such in our traditional art, calligraphy. This is why I think we have an intuition, a perceptual inclination for this unity. And thus, in my works, I also use the text itself as an instrument of plasticity. In my newly emerging series WritingArting I use the text and its narrative style as a drawing instrument. In short, my poems and my plastic artworks develop intrinsically.
How did your paths cross with Art50.net? Your thoughts on online art platforms?
I have known Güliz (Özbek) from the art scene for many years. I already knew and followed Art50.net of which she was the founder; but I became a part of it thanks to my friend Haydar Akdağ, the artist. He presented me to Art50.net and this way one more missing piece of mine was complete. For nowadays, the virtual environment is the biggest and fastest meeting point between what we did and will do, and the art enthusiasts. And Art50.net is one of the best representatives of this environment both in the Turkish and the international context. I believe that the world will build an inner-universe where the human being will become some sort of an online life form, and that art will not be immune to this phenomenon and will be produced exclusively within this online environment if we go on like this anyway. In my opinion, online platforms like Art50.net will be the single focus of life and art in the future.
Your biggest dream as an individual and an artist? And your upcoming project(s)?
One of my biggest dreams is to do a monumental installation at the Serpentine Gallery. Its conceptual and schematic foundations are already complete. I want to make a move for it in the days to come. Regarding my projects, I have always thought that the England part of my artistic journey remained interrupted. I want to do something about it as well. I also intend to switch from the group exhibitions I am often part of to a focus on solo exhibitions. I will have a solo show in November 7-25 at the Artifact Gallery in New York where I will exhibit works from the WritingArting project I mentioned earlier. I hope this will be one more step forward in my rapprochement with the American art scene. I want to develop WritingArting further in the days to come. I intend to carry it to a three-dimensional level. It seems that I will concentrate more heavily on Anti-Art within this context. I already refer to this period I’m going through as my Anti-Artist phase.

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