////
................... the virtual calendar...............
istanbul /// ........................................................................................................................april
1999
the kazım taşkent gallery
ankara///...........................................................................................................................may
1999
galeri nev
///...............
the virtual calendar is a series of images that are entirely computer
generated. they were produced on a mac/8500, with photoshop - nothing
was scanned, everything was painted directly on the screen with a wacom
tablet.
it was the winter of 1997..........................
for me a time of great turmoil and transitions.
I had, at that point, started to become very heavily involved with the
computer and computer generated imagery and I saw very clearly the implications
of virtual reality and how it would continue to
change and transform my life ....
who I was, how I thought, how I lived and reacted.
on the one hand this was o.k::::::::::::: I had been painting for years,
had identified with the whole lifestyle and mindset of being an artist
but an undefinable something had been missing but what that something
was I did not know........
I earned my living as a graphic designer but,
for some reason had never called myself a designer.
in 1993 my friend Erdağ Aksel, to whom I am grateful to this day, had
talked me into teaching design at Bilkent University, Ankara***.
this; the interacation with young, intelligent people - their enthusiasm,
their openmindedness, their vitality was enough to jolt me out of the
placidity of onsetting middle age. my transformation began the day I first
set foot into the classroom and realized that I (possibly) had a lot to
teach but quite definitely more to learn.
////
above all I needed to redefine myself. somewhere, in my bones, I
knew I was not a painter: I did not like to paint,
I did not like getting my hands dirty, I did not like the process, the
studio. But even more important
was the fact that I did not really and truly believe that what I did mattered
or made a difference, firstly
to me - but ultimately to anybody////
in 1994, at Bilkent University, my good good friend Mark Siprut sat me
down in front of a computer and gave me his wacom tablet to play around
with. the software I had was adobe photoshop 3.0....................
////
I must have sat there for hours, oblivious to all.................................
I had found what I was looking for, all my dreams had come true..................................I
was in love!
on
the other hand:::::::::::::
my love lost me friends and made me new ones.
none of my peers, nobody that I had hung out with for all my adult life,
knew or cared about the computer the way I had started to do. yes it did
things, it was a tool. oh yes, they had heard of something called the
internet (this is 1994 we're talking here)....................
but to actually become starstruck with it? to make it into the centerpoint
of your life?
oh......... the endless arguments, fights and lectures::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
it was bad for you.............
it gave you cancer..................................
it brainwashed you................................................................
it
changed you ....................................................................................................................................
it
////////////////changes
////////////////////////////////////////////////you.........................................................................
it
////////////////changes
////////////////////////////////////////////////you.........................................................................
it
////////////////changes
////////////////////////////////////////////////you.........................................................................
it surely does!
no arguments there: it has changed me forever. 8
years
have passed. I have become more and more heavily involved with it's venues
of creativity.... web design, sound, image processing, digital video.
I have adopted a new lifestyle, a new way of looking at things, of thinking............................
and yes, I have lost friends during the process.... people I valued, cared
for, still in fact do. one of the biggest dangers attributed to virtuality
has in fact happened to me:
I have become more solitary, more alone.
I know the computer is dangerous: the computer is
important, vital even. and anything that is important is dangerous. in
fact the more important a thing is, the more inherently dangerous it is..................
and yes this magic box holds a tremendous amount of real and virtual danger.
yes, it is just a tool. tools can be dangerous anyway...
but no, it is not just a tool: it brings with it a lifestyle, a way of
being, a whole new culture. it has it's own code of ethics, it's friendships
and enmities. it's own aesthetics and rules. it changes the way we think,
create and interact with one another and life itself. and furthermore:
this transformation has only just begun. what we have now is not even
a harbinger of what the future holds, of how we will continue to change
as computers and telecommunications evolve.
dangerous indeed ..........................................................................................
////////////////
the virtual calendar is a swan song. the old me, the pre-computer me transformed
into the new me, the computer nerd me while I painted these images. (yet
another process of alchemy............) yes, the production medium is
virtual but these images were subsequently printed, that is how I meant
them to be. they became huge paintings that hung on a wall, definitely
not virtual as an end product. today, all I do is virtual, I think virtual:
period.
//////
these paintings are based on the Turkish Farmers Almanac, where certain
days of each month are designated as "storm days" and a lot
of these storms have names and myths attached to them. the amazing thing
is that, usually on those days there is in fact a storm.
/////////
the entire exhibit is dedicated to the memory of my beloved aunt Fatoş
Kuru, who initiated me into the mysteries of these storm days. may she
rest in peace................................
*** I stayed at Bilkent until 1997. Then I taught
at Bilgi University for 3 years and now teach at the Sabancı University
full time
oh,
and yes....................
.................................................................................
these days I have a PC.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
