Artist :Kadir AKYOL1984 ~ Mardin Northern of Kurdistan

Kadir Akyol  was born in Mardin in 1984.
He achieved department of fine art in Mersin University in 2004.  He was graduated in 2008. He started his post graduate education in Gazi University in the faculty of fine arts.  In 2011, he was graduated from this university by finishing his thesis named as “Hybrid Approaches in Contemporary Art”. İn 2011, he started his second post graduate education in faculty of fine arts in Sevilla University in Spain, He continues his thesis” Hacker Art” in Spain. Between the years 2009-2013, he did some researches and studies on arts in some Europeans countries and took part in some workshops and activities with projects. In 2013, he won the competition “Rh+ Art Magazine the Young Artist of the Year”. In addition to this, he has been awarded with many other prices. He has 9 personal exhibitions and he took part in more than 70 national and international mixed, group, biennial, triennials, symposium, project exhibitions and auction activities in painting, installation, video and performance.

KADİR AKYOL: A PORTRAIT COMMENTATOR
Kaya Özsezgin

The privileged and determiner state of portrait draws attention as a predominant theme when the developments from the classical era to the modern era are observed. The aim for carving the entity matters given to the individual by social status in stone is effective in this as well as the motive for carrying the individual or human existence to the future by reflecting the spiritual and physical structure of humankind. This charge loaded by cultures and lifestyles to art accelerated the process of rising of various visions in the hands of different artists and portrait has become a mission category among art matters, especially in the monopoly of managers and powerful people.

Kadir Akyol's portraits drawn by using special photo-shop techniques, creating a new artistic identity to photographic representation function question this tradition's representation feature and bring up half-critical and half-ironic description modes about media bosses into the agenda, which reveals a specifical typology concept. Such an approach paves the way for approaches about pure identity such as exaggerating special mimics as it stimulates the question motive of people reflected by portrait in parallel with these modes. For example, some face details that are not found on the real photograph are used in the portrait. Thus, some kind of a fictional aesthetic is created, which makes the innate structural format of human existence more ironic. This ironic level is used by some young artists from Kadir Akyol's generation. Here, what important is the point of view that will add subjectivity to the usage rather than the irony itself. As he is aware of this reality, Kadir Akyol is not based on only irony, he also does not deepen irony too much. This approach affects audiences' process of communication with these canvas positively.

Another approach that adds identity to commentary is sheeting the surface of photographic portraits with a transparent lace fabric image. This commentary style that does not close the character of face completely but adds more value to the social status of the individual ironically adds a different dimension to these pictures.
Kadir Akyol was awarded at the competition organized by Rh among young painters last year. Rather than a title that supports his career, this competition and his new exhibition at Planet Art Gallery will contribute to the popularity of his name in the future.

The "TRUTH of IMAGE" in KADİR AKYOL PAINTING
Celâl Soycan

The problem of "Being" and "Its Image" was a breaking reason in the plastic language of modernism. Forming will based on mimesis was indoctrinated with modernist standards, image integrity became separated and anything that can be seen became questionable at vertical and horizontal plane.
Being, of course, carries its own truth, but also every image is resemblance and simulation. In a ideological world that absolutizes image, every art discipline exposes every image of Word's resistance by the way of its materials' possibilities.
Kadir Akyol made every pornographic image, portrait, stuff and fact a problem, questioned them and created a traumatic relationship in the sense of style. In this sense, first of all, he surrounded plastic possibilities, searched the bounds of material and faced with colour's pure and bright substance. Then, he added socio-cultural, political and ethnical image comments to the toile surface; he directed into a symbolic language and a simpler expression with faded colour preferences.
His recent works take familiar faces and images to deconstruction in front of a digital deep surface in order to reveal the codes of power structuralism including socio-political and cultural elements. Image-portrait that is shut in back and fore ground actually desires for a timelessness where looking, skin and mimic are cancelled. Old time’s signals on the family photographs are defeated by deep digital fabric with dominant and bright geometry. Thus, a critical language which is grasped by sensorial synthesis is casted upon. The artist uses his own portrait at the summit of tension: the look that scatters in the space is completely loss; the settle of head and skin tissue does not refer more than a mummy. It is a "being nothing" rather than alienation and, power has invaded all the past and future that reminds of compassion and labor.
"Now", on the other hand, is the field of plastic language, word, art, critical conscience, mind and mercy; the painter will rip the past and future from there and human will be built there again.
Kadir Akyol transmits emotion and meaning gestures related to this with a mournful whisper. This is an aesthetic effort that will exceed subject/object, me/the other, past/future, truth/lie, image/truth dichotomies. His brush moves in the space between image and word, image and truth. All people who are connected to each other with telecommunication wires actually fortify the power of "Big Eye" at the top by sharing every kind of privacy. Click on the internet once, then you are a part of the rulership with all preferences, tendency, desires and privacy. The only possibility for taking this into deconstruction is a meaning search away from ordinary codes and art is still capable of this.
Kadir Akyol put his face to ransom against the pornographic truth of digital that exhibits pale faces: What important for him is mercy that will repair looking, the truth and labor that is exhibited on lace with mourn.
He refers to another life's possibilities there.    


Dance with Laces: Kadir AKYOL

Hülya Küpçüoğlu

Kadir Akyol, who used to draw abstract pictures until 2009, entered a new path in his art and started to produce works in photorealistic style. His paintings painted with a blurred photograph effect are like nostalgic and are like seen behind a tulle curtain. The images frosted suddenly on the photograph usually belong to people's happy moments. The artist gained awards with some of these paintings, yet at the end of 2012, he wanted to start with his family's paintings, especially with his grandfather's painting. Memories and family traditions will give him new ideas in his paintings again. This natural and self-developed process gives the artist a new path. His first work was the painting drawn for his grandfather's photograph. However, in his memories, this photograph is with a lacy cover given by his mother. Then he remembers that his grandfather loved his mother very much, which makes him decide to show his grandfather's portrait with lace. The portrait is located on a background made by using line form. Akyol's grandfather exhibits an imposing-looking with big eyes, thick eyebrows, wavy hair, faraway and bushy moustache. Without getting away from family tradition, Kadir Akyol covers his grandfather's face with lace as his mother did in the past and, exhibits it to audiences by giving the same value. Now his grandfather waits not only at their home but also at the 'art house' with the same emotionality.

The artist continues his portraits with lace later on. Even though they bear photorealistic effects, these paintings are away from this trend. Now the paintings belonged to his family. Also, photorealistic paintings cannot be made from emotional photographs because of the essential of photorealism. Getting away from photorealism because of the commentaries made not based on the photograph, Akyol continues his new searching and reaches a distinctive render. This new render started with special photos of his family maybe, yet he closed the part including nostalgia and emotionality with paintings about current issues.

In his painting called 'Medya Patronları' made with a similar technique, he puts signature to a comment from one-channel televisions to today's modern era. In the painting, a skull is actually an unclear identity with his cigarette and black glasses. It can be male or female, but it is a media boss in the end and broadcasts whatever wished on its TV. A circular form is at the background in order to refer to the one-channel period and it remains unclear whereas it is supporting that thought. A socio-political approach is observed and actually, a direct criticism to today is also available. Does the artist give a special position to the media boss in the previous example? The answer is yes, but this special position matches up with realities, events and agenda and, the skull comes in for a lot of stick in that painting.

The relation between figure and lace actually makes us question east-west effects. However, when we look at the history of lace, we see that it has been used both in the east and in the west. In this point, this effect which is already clear in the painting matches up with the history of lace and gives reference to both east and west. Lace which is covered on the portrait is combined with solid geometrical figures and thus, it emphasizes its soft and delicate tissue. Another important point that should be said is that lace is used on both male and female figures, where a matriarchal approach is felt.

Changes in Kadir Akyol's art show the artist's courage and side of research. We can clearly say that his paintings will change and develop in line with the artist's interests.


ON ARTISTIC EXPRESSION IN KADİR AKYOL
Orçun ÇADIRCI

Akyol's productions that were produced in current art form are in an critical approach about both socio-cultural life and art practice which is the reflect of present reality. He creates this criticism with an sarcastic approach and comfortability of having his own voice. The artist is aware of similar identity policies mentioned above. He decodes a wide range including faith, intellectual, story, truth and digital codes with the indicators of post-modern language. We see betweenness of current world, power, objects that symbolize culture or faith in his works. This betweenness is located at accept field of post-modernism. In other words, it is located at the freedom field created by 'anything goes' expression by Feuerabend.

To sum up: the artist faces with the fact that the individual is getting away from sense of community day by day and then, recreates this reality again through the order's own language. This deconstruction becomes an indicator preference of Kadir Akyol. Akyol seems that he is aware that money is aware of all kinds of domination and that he sees reality in the same point of view with Lotringer, 'today's art presents career opportunities, profitable investments and consuming objects like a commercial business.' Young artist, Kadir Akyol, who developed reflex to the reality continuing under 'the domination of codes' mentioned by Baudrillard, uses present production opportunities and discloses a secret of these policies.

Source:Site Kurdistan ART