ART WALK IN ISTANBUL
CONTEMPORARY ART IN ISTANBUL-TURKEY
Do you think that Turkish art exist only from calligraphy, marbling, tiles, religious manuscripts, mosaics or
carpets ? Certainly not. Especially in the last ten years Istanbul became also the rising star of modern art.
After the first Istanbul Biennal Contemprory Art Exhibition in 1987 the Turkish artists were introduced to
contemprory art. After becoming a trendy movement, the Turkish industrialist families start up with their
own particular contemprary art museums.There are some Turkish artists like Taner Ceylan whose work was
put in the Sotheby's auction in 2009 and was sold for more than 440.000 US Dollar. Taner Ceylan is especially
known with his hyper realistic paintings. The totally amount of the sail in the auction of Turkish art reached
2 million US Dollar.
ART WALK IN ISTANBUL with OXIMUS TRAVEL
Oximus Travel organizes Art Walk in Beyoğlu (new district), right in the heart of Istanbul. Even you are not
interested in modern art you will certainly enjoy our relaxed tour and the less known streets during our walk.
On this day we will visit the most popular art galleries and the first museum for modern art, which was founded
in 2004. You will also have a coffee break by a trendy cafe which is included in the price.
SOME TURKISH ARTISTS
Bedri Baykam
He is Turkey's international most well known artist. Bedri Baykam has studied at the
Sorbonne University in Paris and got his NBA degree. He also studied painting and
filmmaking at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. He had several
exhibitions in New York, California and Paris. Sinds 1987 he has been living in Istanbul.
Bedri Baykam was also elected as the World President of the International Association
of Art at 18th General Assembly in Plzen in 2015.
Mustafa Özbakır
Mustafa Özbakır was born in 1982. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at
Mersin University (Turkey) in 2008, he received a merit award in the 69th State Painting
and Sculpture Competition. In his 'Scream and Whispers' Series, he creates striking portraits
of female actors from cult movies. ''Sometimes gazing directlyat the viewer with pleading eyes,
sometimes looking away, Özbakır's portraits represent beautiful women with an expression of
loss, despair and shock. The beautiful black and white face stands out on a background of rick,
dark red which intensifies the effect of the gaze and evokes the sense of falling through an
abyss''-Sothebys.
Arzu Akgün
Arzu Akgün is visual artist who was born in 1970. The artist takes interest in the existence
of woman and elaborates on subjects such as drama, closeness and isolation. She studies
our consumerist society and the relationship between the aesthetic object and the instant
desire of owning it. Several works by the artist have been sold at auction, including
'Model 1' sold at Christie's Dubai 'Modern & Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish Art Part II'
in 2012 for USD 23,750.
Nuri İyem
İlhan Koman