Text-Bodies: A trip along an artistic evolution

Renowned Turkish artist Mustafa Ata's exhibition "Yazı-Bedenler" (Text Bodies), displayed alongside the large oil canvas paintings from his "Collages" series will meet the audience until June 6 at the Versus Art Project Gallery in Beyoğlu. Ata said his "Collages" series will exhibit "the same corporeality; presence not only in eternity, but also through what is social, imparting versatile experimentation." Ata's works communicate the long-term changes to his form as well as his path to simplification though his recent works.

We had the chance to interview Mustafa Ata and talk to him about his new exhibition, his artistic development, the formation process of his work and more.

Daily Sabah: This is the first time your collage series will be on display in an exhibition along with your canvas oil paintings. What can you say about the content of these collages?

Mustafa Ata: The collages are a series I have been working on for about a year now. Technically, the collages are not the same as what I'm usually occupied with in terms of my canvas paintings. On canvas paintings, I am busy with minimized time; this is not technically possible with collage. I'm talking about the content of the structural reality of a job. If you ask what the difference is, in one the motion is within the body whereas only the wrist is moving in the other. Of course, the patterns in the collages can be controlled better, as the technique allows it.

DS: How would you evaluate the process in terms of your artistic development from your first solo exhibition that opened at the Çemberlitaş Darüşşafaka Art Gallery in 1971 to your most recent "Yazı-Bedenler" exhibition, which will open on May 8?

MA: Passing time's biggest contribution is to allow me to see more clearly that my art is based around changeability. Now I know what to eliminate and what to add.

What is the philosophical essence that describes the formation process of your work? Can you tell us about the formation of this process?

The word formation refers to a period of history. Based on many years of experience, I can say that my art is based on change and variability. I have an expressionist structure due to my personality and it can be seen in my works. Color is one of the important elements of expressionist painting. In the works that I create with the human figure, while a period is perceived only in forms, sometimes the forms derived from the background will stand out. Sometimes you will be faced with an intense composition, but today we are faced with a more simplified structure of it. However, the things I have said can only be handled with the mind. This is change; this is what concerns me.

What are the factors that constitute your area of creativity?

Everything that belongs to nature and society.

Are there any people that affect you or you look up to in your art life?

Affect is a very open concept, but we need to be selective. Each affect won't necessarily move you to action. My paintings are action paintings. Only the affects whose impact falls within my mind and soul can have an effect on me. This is beyond who the person or what the event is, the important thing is what the affect will be able to transform into.

In your advice to young artists you said: "I suggest they look past to their own cultures." What is the significance of this? Is this how you create your own work?

The importance of this is that today's communication tools offer an easier way to consume everything. It is so pervasive, it spreads from advertisements to every aspect of life. If youngsters are not aware of this, their domains are at a size that can swallow them. Life has forced young people to be more rational and selective at a much earlier age. I think that they should be more aware of the historical and cultural values of the region they live in, without feeling alienated. I have absorbed a lot of things based on the cultural values of the geography I live on, thus my area of creativity bears deep marks of this culture.

You have talked about simplification in your new era works, why do you feel the need to simplify?

As I have said before, I have been working on one form for 50 years. If you say color a 100 times, you will know you have said something different on the 101st and will begin new progress accordingly. Art is a bit like this journey.

How do you explain the reason why your figures are sexless in your works?

It is because it belongs to the whole of humanity. The people that I paint are people who are anywhere in time and history. There is no specific time and place. I feel that I am equal to everything else.

In you artwork, are you questioning an emotion that belongs to the people? What is it you're questioning if not an emotion? What kind of a mark do you wish to leave on the audience by asking questions or seeking answers?

Both internal structural values of the people as well as the human relationship process in life. Ultimately I aim to offer a lifestyle of morality because art is a lifestyle that suggests morals.

You have mentioned before your love for your cat and other animals. Have you ever thought about composing canvases of animal figures?

There have been times when I used animal figures as an element of my art, yes. A few of the collages I created today about Altamira were built around animal figures. All that matters, whether thematic or not, is what you wish to say in the core of the transferred idea. This transcends a rich vocabulary.