Cengiz Bodur was born in Germany and raised in Turkey, where he completed a degree in Fine Arts. Although his creative background is traditional art, he has been creating digital art works for six years. He spends a large amount of time creating vector illustrations, and always likes to try out different ways to express his ideas with digital art. His work is mainly influenced by nature - He likes illustrating portraits, landscapes and flowers. Cengiz is currently working as a freelance illustrator and web designer. ————————————————————————————————————————————————— Cengiz Bodur Almanya'da doğdu, Türkiye'de büyüdü, burada Güzel Sanatlar menzunu oldu. Geçmiş portfolyosu daha geleneksel sanat olsa da, altı senedir dijital sanat çalışmaları yaratıyor. Vektörel ilüstrasyonlarına bol vaktini vererek, yaptığı dijital sanat ile sürekli fikirlerini ifade etmeye çalışıyor. Çoğunlukla doğadan esinleniyor - Portre, peyzaj ve çiçek çizmekten hoşlanıyor. Cengiz şu anda serbest ilüstratör ve web tasarımcısı olarak çalışıyor. www.tasarix.com

INTERVIEW BY : CİHAN ATS Ozan Emre Han is 21 years old and lives, works and studies in Bologne at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologne. He was born in Selçuk-Efes of Izmir, where he studied at the Izmir High School of Fine Arts and later came to Istanbul for university. In his 3rd year at Mimar Sinan, Ozan Emre went to Italy on an exchange course and was later accepted at the university there as a result of his successful work. His first important work became his participation in the Istanbul International Film Festival with 5 short films. (His 5 short films were first shown at Istanbul Film Festival in April 2009). His videos were also shown at Rennes University and Gallerie Art & Essai in France, and his collage work was shown at Accademia Di Belle Arti Di Bologna in 2010. I'm aware you still studying however there's a high demand for your work at the moment. How do you respond to this demand at this moment in time? To be honest I don't really want my work to be part of the art market in Turkey at the moment, in quotation marks. Getting away, hiding from or even keeping ...

So where are you from exactly and how did you end up in Istanbul? What languages do you speak? I was born in Ventspils, Latvia. When my mother got married to a Turkish man we moved to Azerbaijan and Bosnia and Herzegovina because of his job. After spending a couple years abroad we finally ended up in Turkey. Traveling so much at a young age enabled me to learn the native languages. Right now I can speak Russian (which is my mother tongue), Turkish, English, Azerbaijani, Bosnian, German (which I've learned at school). I also have a basic knowledge of Latin, which I've also learned from school. You just finished high school, what are your near future plans? My biggest plan right now is moving to England and applying for Fashion Design at Central Saint Martin's but this will have to wait because I still have some unfinished business in Istanbul. If you had to explain your work to a stranger, how would you do it? Basically I use original magazine pages and glamour images, which visually inspire me, either to cut them in pieces and use them in collages on other magazine pages or i just use ink or paint and write or draw ...

Pelin Kirca was born in Atlanta, Georgia, USA and grew up in Turkey and Singapore. She studied graphic design at Bilkent University in Ankara, and returned to the US for her Masters in Design from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Pelin’s work includes animations for Zac Posen, Amnesty Turkey, Random House, the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and the Obie Awards. Her work has been shown in festivals and exhibitions worldwide, including New York, Istanbul, Lisbon, Bologna, and Tokyo. As an animator, Pelin successfully merges her love of storytelling, music, film and art into a medium where these elements are revealed as a delightful whole. ————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Pelin Atlanta, Georgia, ABD'de doğdu ve Türkiye - Singapur arasında büyüdü. Ankara, Bilkent'te Grafik tasarım okudu ancak Master'ını okumak için ABD'ye geri döndü ve New York'taki School of Visual Arts'tan mezun oldu. Pelin'in işleri arasında Zac Posen, Amnesty Turkey, Random House, Maryland Symphony Orkestra Üniversitesi, ve Obie Awards için yaptığı animasyonlar oldu. İşleri New York, Istanbul, Lisbon, Bologna, ve Tokyo gibi şehirlerde farklı festivallerde ve sergilerde yer aldı. Bir animasyoncu olarak, hikayeler, müzik, film ve sanata olan sevgisini gayet başarılı bir şekilde bütünleştirmek üzere bir araya getiriyor. http://pelinkirca.com/

Rokkas and Sukkas were both born in 1980, Rokkas in Wil, Switzerland and Sukkas in İstanbul. The Rokkas vs. Sukkas collaboration began 15 years ago along bumpy pavements over skateboards. Skating their teen years away together, they went on to study at Bilgi University’s VCD department. After graduating from Bilgi, they entered the job front at an advertising agency. Although not illustrators at heart, they started doodling on a large canvas they shared at the office. These doodles flourished and went on to become installations. As emphasized in the ‘vs.’ between their names, Rokkas and Sukkas have contrasting views on almost everything, which in turn constantly feed their inspiration. ————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Rokkas İsviçre, Wil’de Sukkas da İstanbul’da 1980 senesinde doğdu. Rokkas vs. Sukkas birlikteliği 15 yıl önce kaldırımlarda kaykay üzerinde başladı. İkili, gençlik yıllarını kaykay üstünde ve daha sonra Bilgi Üniversitersi VCD bölümü koridorlarında geçirdi. Mezun olduktan sonra iş hayatına bir reklam ajansında atılan ikili yine ayrılmadı. İllustrasyon geçmişleri olmayan ikili ofis duvarlarındaki kanvasa çizmeye başladı. Önce biri çizdi, sonra diğeri ona karşılık verdi. Bu atışmalar zamanla video enstallasyonlarına dönüştü. İsimlerinin ortasındaki ‘vs.’nin de belirttiği gibi ikili neredeyse her konuda farklı fikre sahip. Birbirlerine olan bu pseudo-nefret esas ilham kaynakları olmaya her geçen ...

Şerif was born, grew up and studied in Istanbul. He's been drawing ever since he can remember, and for four years he's also been painting. He doesn't get along too well with rules, he draws whatever he likes, and doesn't like explaining it. Currently he continues his work at his studio in Kadıköy. ——————————————————————————————————————————————— Şerif, İstanbul'da doğdu, büyüdü, okudu. Kendini bildibileli çiziyor, dört senedir resim yapıyor. Kurallarla arası iyi değil, istediğini çiziyor, onları anlatmayı pek sevmiyor. Kadıköy'deki atölyesinde çalışmalarına devam ediyor... www.serifkarasu.com

Neslihan was born in Eskişehir, grew up in Antalya and is currently living in Istanbul. Her works are influenced by the cities she lived in and memories she has had. She creates videos, photos, illustrations and drawings. She was discovered at the age of 6 by her art teacher and started doing potato presses and drawing rabbits from 62s. Her paintings had won lots of medals and honours by the time she reached high school. She studied maths and science for a year but driven mad, she decided to study Visual Arts in one night and changed her degree to the “dark side”. Fortunately she won a scholarship to Visual Arts at Sabanci University and graduated from there in 2009. She applied to Wieden & Kennedy London Platform Project and surprisingly she was chosen among 180 applicants in the world. However London didn’t let her have a visa to work there. So following this disappointment Neslihan continues to produce in It Is Red Art Management which she has founded with her friend Bora Bekiroğlu and search for things to do in the future. Check out this selection of her best videos: ——————————————————————————————————————————————— Neslihan Eskişehir’de doğdu, Antalya’da büyüdü ve şu an Istanbul’da yaşıyor. ...

Meryem Yildiz was born in Montreal from a French-Canadian mother and a Turkish father. She has always had an interest in nuances, codes and secrecy. As a child, she used to hide creatures in her oil paintings, liked drawing bridges and wrote poems on discarded sheets of paper. Now it's about light and detours, and of course through photography she's discovering limited distracting moments to support these two aspects. By incorporating figurative and narrative dimensions to her pieces, allegories and coded discourses assume roles both impartial and discrete. Between two lines, two spaces, or two moments, a new dimension emerges; Meryem’s work situates itself at this junction. She has a B.A. in psychology from McGill University and a graduate diploma in translation from Concordia University, both in Montreal, Canada, where she still lives, works, and creates. ——————————————————————————————————————————————— Annesi yarı Fransız yarı Kanadalı ve babasıda Türk olan, Meryem Yıldız Montreal'de doğdu. Her zaman ince ayrıntılara, şifrelere ve gizliliğe bir eğilimi oldu. Çocukken yağlı boyayla yaptı resimlerde her türlü yaratık saklardı, köprü çizmeyi severdi ve atılan kağıt sayfaların üstüne siir yazardı. Artık, ışık ve detur, ve tabiiki fotoğrafçılık sayesinde bu iki konuyu desteklemek için dalgınlık yaratan sınır anlar keşf ediyor. İşlerine figüratif ve öyküsel ...