Ekrem Kahraman

Turkey

Adana

goruntu art gallery

Painting

classik illusion

earth prayers

divine distance

cultural sociality

when you walk away

letters on intend

thats when

to the deep dark andbright light

whatever goings on

guiding point

crime scene investigation

to forget and remember

The Epic Freedom

Thinking Break

To Forget and Remember

To Forget and Remember...

Earth Prayers

Unrequited Utopia

Earth Verses


I used to be somewhat uneasy looking at Ekrem Kahraman’s paintings. When I told him of this uneasiness, he listened with great interest. Now I hope this text somewhat clarifies my points. Certain aspects of Kahraman's works rely on a certain optical tradition: his works possess sui generis pictorial choices, and there are certain deviations from these choices. My objective was to grasp the characteristics of these pictorial aims, these moments of deviations, and ultimately understand what makes all these paintings art.

 

If it does not sound too ambitious, I would claim that the artist attempts to engage in an artistic regeneration of life (rather than issues of representation) suggesting a work’s spirit, in the sense in which Kant approaches the issue in his The Critique of Judgment. Explaining the touches used to put dye on his paintings would otherwise be impossible. There is a constant tension between color and dye in these paintings. Unlike others, I saw no plains, moors, soil, canopies, clouds, and similar representations. On the contrary, I had to go back and check those paintings again upon reading such comments. Having these words as you look at them, you cannot avoid thinking they are depicted just right. These findings regarding the identity of object, however, does not explain why cloud is a recurring theme, nor do they explain the logic behind small circular points, colorful plates, geometrical forms, long strips, or pieces of photographs transferred with screen printing (silk-screen). Using a narrative again, and actually repeating the same narrative, these findings only try to make up for a gap."

(...)

Ekrem Kahraman’s paintings aptly display the strike of that razor belonging to art history. It shows us both the rules of academic language and also an artist bolting from that language towards the world… And this reminds us the fact the razor can move against the grain as fast as it does downwards." *

 

* Barış Acar, Ekrem Kahraman, Art Historian's Razor, 2015