Fikret Otyam Click for Artist Information

Fikret Otyam

FİKRET OTYAM (1926 - 2015)

Otyam was born in Konya in 1926. He graduated from Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts, Department of Painting, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu Workshop in 1953. During his university years, he participated in the exhibitions of the Group of Ten. The artist, who started journalism in the same years, turned to photography in the 1960s. His photographs published in the local and foreign press have a documentary nature. The artist, who started to focus on painting in the 1980s, adopted a local narrative with his paintings about Eastern and Southeastern tribes. In his photographs, he focused on the people and living conditions of this region. Otyam, who works on "human beings" first with his pen, then with his brush and canvas, has a simple and affectionate style, without any pretense or imitation, with a strong power of vision and perception, with his canvases that are sometimes static, sometimes in motion, and with his white or jet black moiré horses from one end to the other. It has style.

Otyam's paintings generally depict nomadic tribes and different peoples living in Southeastern Anatolia, emphasizing vibrant colors and meticulous details. Since Shahmeran was such an influential figure in Turkey, especially in Southeastern Anatolia, it is not surprising that Otyam depicted him many times in his paintings. In his paintings, Otyam has incorporated the aesthetic realism and humanist perspective into his canvases, based on a socialist and realistic worldview, without falling into populism. The technique, form, essence and color scale he uses are in complete harmony.

After his first exhibition in 1952, Otyam opened more than 30 exhibitions at home and abroad, and his works were included in the collections of foreign museums and private collectors. The artist passed away in Antalya in 2015.