Nur Koçak
Nur Koçak is a contemporary feminist Turkish artist who was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1941. She is most well known for her works that comment on women's objectification in consumerist societies.[1][2][3] She lives and works in Istanbul, Turkey.[4][5]
Education
[edit]Koçak attended TED Ankara College where she learned painting from Turgut Zaim.[6] She continued her high school education in Washington DC, and was taught by the abstract-expressionist Leon Berkowitz.[3] In 1960, she returned to Istanbul, where she studied under Adnan Çöker, Cemal Tollu and Neşet Günal in the Painting Department of the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts. In 1970, she came first in the National Ministry of Education examinations and was sent to Paris on a scholarship to study painting at École des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Jean Bertholle.[7] In 1974 Koçak returned to Istanbul and began teaching at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts between 1975 and 1981.
Works
[edit]While in Paris, she was influenced by the Situationists and their critique of consumerism. After studying French advertisements and their representation of the female body, she became particularly interested in the photo-realism movement and created her first series of paintings entitled Fetishist Objects/Woman as an Object to explore how mass media uses fetish objects and objectifies female images.[5] She further developed her style in a following series, Pictures of Happiness, where she moved from painting and began to use recycled images into art pieces. She continued this theme in Family Album, a series that uses found images from her own past. Another change was "Vitrines," a series consisting of images of herself in the context of how women's bodies and images are displayed on commercial vitrines in 1980s Istanbul.[7]
Exhibitions
[edit]Nur Koçak participated at the International Triennial of Plastic Arts Belgrade in 1979 and the International Drawing Biennial Lisbon in 1979 and 1981. Her work was included in the Made in Turkey: Artists' Positions 1978-2008 Exhibition at the Ernst Barlach Museum in Wedel and the Drostei Museum in Pinneberg, Germany.[8][9] Koçak has had 13 solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions in Turkey and abroad.
Koçak's work was included in the 2012 exhibition Dream and Reality: Modern and Contemporary Women Artists from Turkey and the 2013 group exhibition Past and Future at the İstanbul Modern.[10][11]
In 2019, SALT presented, Our Blissful Souvenirs, a comprehensive exhibit of Nur Koçak's work at SALT Beyoğlu and SALT Galata.[1] The exhibit covered Koçak's work from the 1960s and 2010s including selections of early drawings and photographs,[1] and explored representations of women in popular culture and the impact on Turkey.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Our Blissful Souvenirs - Nur Koçak". Salt Research. 2019. Archived from the original on 16 July 2024. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
- ^ "Past and Future". Istanbul Modern (Press release). Archived from the original on 3 July 2024. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
- ^ a b "Nur Koçak". Turkish Cultural Foundation. Archived from the original on 21 April 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
- ^ Atagök, Tomur (February 1997). Deepwell, Katy (ed.). "Contemporary Turkish Women Artists" (PDF). n.paradoxa (2): 20–23. ISSN 1461-0426. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 October 2022. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
- ^ a b ART, ISTANBUL MODERN, ISTANBUL MUSEUM OF MODERN. "A Selection from the Collection - İstanbul Modern". secure.istanbulmodern.org. Retrieved 2018-04-03.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Sanatçılar: Nur Koçak" [Artist: Nur Koçak]. Mine Sanat Galerisi (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 22 July 2024. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
- ^ a b "Exhibitions: Nur Koçak: First Nude-Last Nude: 1961-2012". Galeri Nev. 2013. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- ^ "Nur Koçak". Graph Commons (in Turkish). 3 June 2017. Archived from the original on 3 April 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- ^ "Sanatcilar: Nur Koçak" [Artists: Nur Koçak]. 44a.com.tr (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
- ^ "Exhibitions: Dream and Reality - Modern and Contemporary Women Artists from Turkey". Istanbul Modern. 2011. Archived from the original on 31 October 2024. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
- ^ "Exhibitions: Past and Future". Istanbul Modern. Archived from the original on 31 October 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
Further reading
[edit]- Renda, Günsel; Pınar, Selman (1989). A History of Turkish Painting. Seattle: University of Washington Press. pp. 402, 408. ISBN 9782882190000. OCLC 756999877.