“So here I am, with a cup of coffeen thinking where will these new paints take me, what lies behind this door in front of me. I wonder.”
How would you tell us about the time period after you were chosen the young artist of the year in 2009?
There actually is a short but more important and more distinctive period of time before the competition. I was a fresh graduate; I neither had the time to worry about the future nor the opportunities pushing me to focus on what I do in a serious way. I was just enjoying what I was doing while trying to put forth something different that reflects me and differentiate myself from the academy. I tried for a time, various things; various materials came to pass in the workshop. Then I tried the airbrush for the first time and felt, strangely home. The first works of a project that is going to last three years were done this way. The competition was a confirmation of how good a choice it was to take place in where I feel comfortable. The rest just followed, as if someone pushed a secret button. I spent this period improving the thing I found in that weirdly comfortable zone.
You are preparing for your 3rd personal exhibition in ALAN Istanbul, in 2013. How would you describe it?
I’m in an era in which I am getting rid of the unreal comfort that this zone provided me, doing the same sort of works over and over again. I once again feel excited by everything I try. It is no longer about continuation, but perhaps about the excitement of the unknown. And that is why this exhibition is very important to me. I think more, I feed myself from sources even surprising me, I keep the preparation more intense while keeping the production more raw. This is where I will draw a thick line and say “and this and this happened after this and this.” Different references also push one into considering different techniques and materials. So here I am, with a cup of coffee thinking where will these new paints take me, what lies behind this door in front of me. I wonder.
Who are some of the artists you enjoy in the international platform? Why?
The only motivation I have currently to complete my Master’s project is that the subject is contemporary Japanese art. The same motivation was what made me take Japanese courses in a tiny class for an entire year. Well, the answer is contemporary Japanese Art, especially Takashi Murakami. Pop Surrealism is another current I felt close and followed. Some names I can think of right this moment are Audrey Kawasaki, Elizabeth McGrath, Greg Craola Simkins, Amy Sol…
What sort of a relationship and interaction do you have between other young modern artists?
To stay unique, one has to broaden her perceptions to the fullest, while also harnessing them it seems.
How would you describe your technique in painting?
I think I fulfill the “assorted technique”. I use acrylic, ceramic ink, markers and pencil. I thin the paint with coffee or tea. I love to randomly use not really on target intensity paint in my airbrush and sometimes to use dish sponge instead of a brush. Coincident and marks carried of the moment a work was made are notions that fit within my technique.
Your works are lively and positive. How would you describe this affects the ones around you?
Well I’m usually getting positive comments; this could be a pointer that the properties of the colors, objects and figures I use are a bit distracting. It is a bit like having hidden meanings in the things one says. Painting a gloomy feeling with phosphorescent tones of purple is somewhat like describing something that I know is disturbing with a wiser and perhaps sweeter choice of words. So at the end instead of the “She speaks about even the most disturbing things in a sweet and cute way” effect, I sometimes think I cause a “She tells about sweet and cute things” effect. There is, on the other hand, a situation in my paintings like I try things, and give up then I get distant and alienate myself then start to express myself in a virtual world where colors are brighter, images are sharper and end up living in there. The result, perhaps, is this highly attractive imaginary world and the unlikely intense happiness it creates despite its fake nature. I believe this is the residue my paintings leave behind on people.
How would you comment if you were to distinguish between your larger scale works and the smaller ones?
As the space I get to act increases, I feel more comfortable with regard to the limits of frame, paper and canvas.
You currently have a large workshop in Istinye. Do you believe working in the workshop affects your projects?
The workshop atmosphere has a great influence on my paintings, and I actually am a person that consumesplaces quite fast. Especially in an isolated place like a workshop where the time spent is extremely intense and the energy within extremely exploited, this fact is more visible. That location, after a point, is “exhausted”. I can’t work after I get “used to”. The time it takes me to get to this stage differs, but as I just counted it’s my 9th workshop. Besides, none of the places resemble another. They range from a tidy apartment with cream colored carpets to a shop with broken windows. I sometimes feel I have to live in my workshop and sometimes I can’t stand the notion of staying the same room with my paintings. My current workshop, despite being in the parallel street of Istinye Park, has weird scenery with chickens, cats and goats wondering in through left open doors…
How would you comment on art fairs you attended up to this moment?
Fairs were events that I always eagerly await, even before I started to attend as an artist. Well, people visit them to experience works of great variety and count; something they can’t have every day. One jumps from one emotion to another. In every turn you experience different feelings, see different worlds sometimes even when you are under the effect of the previous one. Though, there is yet another feeling one can experience in fairs; that crowd, that chaos you enjoy sometimes become almost threatening when you attend as an exhibiting artist.
