Tayfun Erdoğmuş, 1958

Tayfun Erdoğmuş is a graduate of the State School of Applied and Fine Arts, Department of Painting, where he studied from 1975 to 1979. He worked at the Berlin State School of Fine Arts on a DAAD scholarship from 1986 to 1989 and at the International Salzburg Summer Academy in 1991 on an Austrian government grant.

Tayfun Erdoğmuş researches how nature can be transformed into an aesthetic and mystic work of art. His works encompass the traditional and the modern, nature and canvas, and are open to different readings. Erdoğmuş has developed an interesting, original style that simultaneously embodies tree leaves (which most of us throw in between a book to dry out) and the study of surface issues in painting. He forms calligraphic features from the stem and veins of leaves, and produces images that resemble written characters, flowing horizontally in stripes.

Erdoğmuş brings a new perspective to the established relationship between an artwork and nature. The artist collects leaves from various plants and trees, classifies them and leaves them to dry. He then compiles these elements by layering them up on the canvas after treating them with his unique technique using various chemical materials. In “Untitled”, nature is not an object of beauty to be imitated, but rather is transformed into part of the work itself. These large-scale compositions created over a long process are reminiscent of traditional “still-life” paintings that have been adapted with a contemporary approach. His works also follow the minimalist approach of making do with less.