EMİR ERKAYA

Emir Erkaya was born in 1987, in İzmir. After finishing the painting department of Izmir Işlay Saygn Fine Arts Anatolian High School in 1987, he graduated from the Graphic Design Department of Izmir Dokuz Eylul University in 2011.

The artist keeps a record of the unregistered and creates paintings on stories, individuals, and subcultures that the mainstream media and society's perceptions purposefully omit from their narratives. The artist's practice is intertwined with the country and city he lives in. Erkaya incorporates subjects that aren't included in these narratives and makes them the primary focus of his paintings, drawing inspiration from his own life, history, the subcultures of Istanbul, and the political history of Turkey.

Erkaya’s paintings depict societal concerns and the people in his life, which provide references that transcend eras and cultural boundaries. His figurative paintings, which put sexuality and tension front and center, place emphasis on ideas like good and evil, perpetrator and victim, woman and man. The artist portrays the individuals in their natural purity, leaving it to the viewer to consider the ways in which these individuals interact with society and the labels assigned to them.

Selected exhibitions include "The Wizard is Coming Home" (Pilot Gallery, Istanbul, 2022), “Çark” (Karşı Sanat Çalışmaları, İstanbul, 2022), “Warehouse9” (Solo Exhibition, Kopenhag, 2018), “Dandelion Visions” (Blake Fest, Bognor Regis, 2017), Harmony Gallery (İstanbul, 2016), “Mamut Art Fair” (İstanbul, 2016), “311 Artworks” (İstanbul, 2012).