During my undergraduate and graduate studies at the Fine Arts Program of Marmara University, I developed a deep interest in various press techniques. Below are art works from this period using limestone etching, metal engraving and mono press techniques.

Red & Black

I have created this piece while listening to Pavarotti whose voice has always invited me to paint it. My technique is Mono Press. Using two base colors (red and black) I have tried to capture his expressionist vocality.

Self Portrait

Many artist have gone through challenging times when who you are and how you live is in huge argument that for an artist the best way to express this dilemma is to paint it. This is one of my favorite oil paintings that I still go through a similar dilemma when I look.

One + One = One (MAYBE AN OWL)

The philosophical concept of 1+1=1 puzzled me for a while during my Fine Arts studies in Istanbul. To understand the philosophy behind it, I decided to use art to express 1+1=1. My goal was to create art by using two identical objects where the art was essentially the objects themselves. After researching materials and types of objects that I could use to produce the 1+1=1, I decided to use two peacock feathers to show that interpretation of art is different for each individual. My technique was Metal Engraving - Mezzoatinta Etching. This image is one of my favorites from the series of 1+1=1 art exploration.

Foot on a Negative

This art piece is created in memory of one childhood accident when I hurt my foot by jumping off a high garden wall during a walnut hunt in a neighboring garden. I was so scared to get caught, I jumped off the wall when I heard footsteps in distance. My technique is Mono Press & Collage on a Foot X-Ray. I painted a friend's foot in red ink to capture the foot print and used my foot X-Ray as the collage material.

Die Laughing

Storytelling through illustration is one of my passions. My technique here is Ink Drawing & Mono Press. Using a real foot, I created the foot print. After several drawings of a laughing foot, I created this amusing piece that leaves the plot of the story up to the spectator's imagination.

Harmony

A female figure drawing. This art piece explores female postures from different angles to capture natural feminine traits. My technique was lithographic stone engraving. I began with quick drawings of paper that capture the same model in different time frames. Then I transferred my drawings onto limestone. After the lacking and etching process, the prints produced beautiful textures by creating strong expressions of female body. This piece is one of my favorite from these series of art exploration that I have completed during my graduate studies at Marmara University in Istanbul.

In Sleep

A female figure drawing. Sleep creates some type of innocence and confidence that it is an opportunity to capture beauty. My technique is lithographic stone engraving. This piece of art explores a feminine innocence of sleep. I sketched my model during her afternoon nap with soft music in the background. The strokes are expression of her perfect figure as well as magical power of music being played in the background.

Sitting Girl

A female figure drawing. I used lithography engraving on stone to create this piece of art. The soft structure of limestone has always been intriguing for artists to create art through engraving the surface of it through several stages of etching, sanding and inking and print-pressing. The engraving process takes between 3-5 weeks to complete. However, the investment of time is worth it for the beautiful textures captured through stone engraving. This piece of art explores physical existence of a being as the art itself.

Looking Up

A female figure drawing. My technique is Metal Engraving - Mezzoatinta Etching - that I did for few years during the Fine Arts graduate studies in Istanbul. It is one of my passions to explore personal expressions through figure drawings. The human body is amazing and yet so challenging to observe and transfer into artistic expression. Through these art explorations, I do not intend to generate a message, instead the intention is to free feelings from existence that we call the body.