Born in 1984 in Istanbul, Umut Yalım graduated from St. Benoit French High School. He studied Plastic Arts at the University of the Arts London, Chelsea College of Art & Design followed by graduate studies in Book Arts at the University of the Arts London, Camberwell College of Arts. After returning to Turkey in 2008, he worked for Milliyet Cadde until 2010. In addition to his visual art practice, Yalım also continues producing literary works. Umut Yalım who considers himself an anti-artist, describes his oeuvre in the following words:

‘’The reason I switch from art to anti-art is the monopolization in the art market and art’s transformation from the status of the subject into that the object. Nowadays the artist is turned into what he or she is about to do, the artwork itself. And in my works I question this artificial process of transformation. My main instruments in doing so are the text and the personality I created as my own reflection, the Rockabilly Misfit. This artificial process manifests itself as a perceptual attack on our visual memory. The objective of my oeuvre is to mock and satirize this perception and visual domination.

The text is a reference of visual memory to René Magritte’s reactionary “Ceci n’est pas une pipe”. By twisting the dogmatic perceptions in our daily life by using text, I try to create my own drawing language, as text is also a form of drawing, after all. And I call this WritingArting.

Rockabilly Misfit, on the other hand, criticizes the art market monopoly he finds himself in with his attitude and words, and tries to create his own perception as opposed to the mainstream dogmatic perceptions. Moreover, the word Rockabilly and its historical and social point of departure is also supportive of my artistic position, as it refers to a young American subcultural movement against the established system of the post-WWII period. In my works I intend to generate a similar counter movement and I strive to open up new territories for my presence in this regard.”