Tradition in a Modern Approach

By İZGİ GÜNGÖR - Turkish Daily News - Ankara, Turkey
Monday, November 13, 2006

The art of painter Abdurrahman Kaplan not only constructs a bridge between tradition and modernity and East and West, it also explores the hidden beauty of the art of traditional Turkish painting.

Inspired by Turkish culture, history and traditional symbols, he skillfully reinterprets the traditional with a modern approach and design in his own style. Kaplan believes a good work of art can be achieved with references to the past and synthesis, incorporating postmodern elements.

“We have to create a contemporary identity for our artwork that is peculiar to our society and culture. Tradition is a reality that determines our identity and which is always in our hearts. Our culture possesses rich imagery, and I prefer my work to reflect something from our own culture and history. My themes appraise our past and our cultural values. I try to synthesize East and West, modern and classical, in my work. It is important in art to be modern by being loyal to your past -- traditional Turkish painting -- and creating a new style without entirely imitating the West.

“What I want to do is actually to join the lyrical, fantastic, humanist and humorous world of the East with the Western painting tradition within the postmodern context because we are living in a postmodern age. I achieve this by mixing classic and modern elements in my work through the universal language of painting. I like using elements from traditional Turkish painting, including calligraphy and gilt, for example. I believe an artist should have reconciled himself with his own history and culture and should be open to innovation,” he explained in an interview with the Turkish Daily News at Bilkent University's Library Art Gallery, where his paintings are on display.

Impressed also by world cultures, his work has so far featured themes from Anatolian culture as well as universal themes such as idols and ancient cities in addition to clowns, Aztec and Mayan mythology, Sufism, Istanbul, Ankara, mosques, angels-demons-humans, portraits, Eastern and Far-Eastern painting, religion and mythology.