Türkçe
In his paintings, Osman Törer invents brand new machines by combining different engine parts. At first sight, the machines that he constructs with vibrant colors attract the attention of the viewer. Osman Törer works as an art teacher at Women’s Closed Criminal Institution for more than five years. We had a quite sincere conversation with the artist on his artistic process and work experience.
Osman Törer took his BA degree from Gaziosmanpaşa University, Department of Painting and Art Teaching and his MA and Ph.D. degrees at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Painting Department.
In your paintings, we see remarkable, colorful and interesting machines. Could you briefly explain the emergence of these machines? Where does your machine curiosity come from?
The idea of machines was born on my way of searching. At first, I was interested in the stairs and doors. And I started to draw rotating stairs and straight stairs. Then, I started drawing metal, wooden and plastic doors that I saw. We can say that those doors led me to where the machines were. Somehow it had a domino effect. At the university campus where I was studying in Tokat, there was a huge building that caught my attention. This building had a very large and heavy metal door. I was wondering what was behind that door. One day, I saw that the door was open. My acquaintance with the machines started after getting through that door… I first heard machine sounds and saw four huge oil-burning machines, vapors, water boilers, and fireballs. The moment I was in, I realized that I had found what I had been searching for until then. After this experience, my main theme became machines and its surroundings. I started to research machines, on how do they work, what kinds of parts they have, I was also trying to disassemble and look at what is inside. I visited various museums and started to examine the machine details, their parts. I did deep researches that lasted about three years. The machine drawings that I have made at the beginning also evolved within themselves. At the university, we started a project named as ‘Transforming Machines’. With this project, I had the opportunity to draw the machines both digitally and turned them into printable templates. In my very first paintings, the machines were depicted in a zoomed shots in which only the specific parts, details of the machines were represented. But after this project, I started working on spaceless compositions where the audience can see the entire machine. As being the artist who invents and uses the machine as a subject, I am always motivated and they make me curious and excited.
The audience would like to get and use these machines that you have just invented. They arouse curiosity and one starts to think what does it serve for … They look so real that as if they are ready to use. How do you construct your compositions? How do you decide on their colors, on how they will look like?
While constructing my paintings, sometimes I draw sketches on a blank paper, but I do never initiate by having a specific idea in my mind on what the machine will look like or what will it serve. The result of my production process is never clear. I focus on how to stand with an aesthetic sense when I depict a single line. I investigate what parts would come together and how would they stay together in harmony. Or I try to solve a problem on how to put the parts together that are unable to connect. I am dealing to make the parts work systematically on a regular basis. And after all, the machine that I constructed, and combined do work and look ready to use and within this way the audience questions what does it serve for.
About the colors, in real life, the machines actually have a cold, gruesome, frightening structure. I make machines to look like ‘candies’ with the vivid colors that I have chosen. For example, if we think of sports cars, it is usually red, bright, and when you get in it, the color goes away but you feel the power. My machines are charming, but in them, there might be also a poison or they could be a war machine. I use an airbrush as a technique because it allows me to create a smooth surface, and the idea of producing a machine with a ‘machine’ attracts me a lot.
What are the most common pieces that you frequently use in your paintings? Could you talk about your process of gathering these pieces and creating machines?
I usually use the airplane engine and a wheel. Apart from that, my paintings include hood, tractor, plane, and construction equipment parts. Of course, material knowledge and correct usage are very important. As I said before, I focus on how parts would become together and sometimes I try to combine the parts that would not normally come together. While doing this, I create visual contrasts by using a piece of an airplane with a piece of a tractor.
Once you mentioned: ‘Every machine produced for certain needs of humanity comes to life through a birth process’. You mean to give a life to something and this ‘thing’ fulfills the needs. What would you say about the relationship between machines and humans?
We do not see any human figures in my machine paintings but we ask the question of whether a human could use it. The machine cannot be produced by itself, man produces the machine, and the machine can never create a superior machine than itself because there is a need for a human in between. Isaac Asimov’s robot law is a law that protects people against machines. I make these machines, I manufacture them, and I produce a machine that comes out by human hands. Humans do not exist in the paintings I produced, there is a machine that man produces.
Would it be possible to think of machines as a serial work? And where do the machines heading?
For instance, I started a new series of renowned machines that will be a limited edition. We cannot consider my other works as a serial but as something that I have started and will evolve in itself. I don’t know what to do next, where to go next, I’m still in search of it. I will continue to work with machines that their functions are uncertain. I need more time to talk about my current goal. Instead of going to another topic for a while, I will work on machines.
At certain times, besides painting, you create machines as sculptures. Let’s talk about this process. What do you use as a material? Do you have plans to move on to this direction in the future?
There are some experiments I made from ceramics. Apart from that, there are also drawings I made on ceramic plates. I welcome many alternatives in terms of materials. During university, I have attended a course on metal sculpture, as well. I have a project to print the visuals that I have prepared in digital programs with a 3D printer. Apart from that, I would like to make the machines a little more mobile. It’s not like kinetic sculptures that all the parts are moving completely, but I am designing spinning wheels, things that will get some a little bit of action. I am working with Arduino digital programming. I do try to work in many other different disciplines, but since I work at the same time, it limits my actual time for painting. In the future, I have plans to transfer my art practice in three dimensions.
You are working as an art teacher at the Bakırköy Women’s Closed Criminal Institution. How long have you been working there? Could you tell us a little about your experiences as well as the women’s experiences?
I have been working at the Bakırköy Women’s Closed Criminal Institution for about five years. I have applied to the Public Education Center to teach art and when they called me they said that I could start teaching arts at the Women’s Closed Criminal Institution. And without any hesitation, I accepted to work in prison. I would say, to mention ‘teaching experience in prison’ would be the first thing that I would write on my CV. I have never been biased to work in prison. In our lives, we can always move from a negative environment to a positive environment. At the institution, I teach basic painting classes three days a week. Each semester, we continue through certain subjects. For example, this semester, I teach oil painting. Since students’ experiences with painting differ from each other, I start with basic painting lessons. There are 34 people in the course now, this is a pretty good number, and are divided into two sections. I am not only teaching drawing but we talk about the history of art, so that, when they encounter a painting of a well-known artist they will learn how to look at it, how to examine it. We have a library at the institution where women could also study art books.
While working in prison, I met a lot of people. I heard about quite interesting stories, I got to know new people, and on the condition of being hidden in me, I learned about their lives. At certain points, I reacted as ‘Wow!’, I said’Come on!’ but these came back to me as many experiences. I also see them as children because every time they are so curious to learn like children, they would always ask me the question of ‘What will we learn today?’…
What would you say about your students? What kind of a process do they go through, how do they develop themselves?
As I have mentioned before, there are students of different levels in the course. Some have never painted before and some have done some painting for a certain time. I always tell my students to keep their first and last paintings, so they would see their improvements very easily. At the end of each course, we organize an exhibition within ourselves and the participants are given certificates. There have been some students who realized their talent here, besides, I also have students who paint very well from the beginning. Some students have never painted before but with this course, they learn. It makes me quite happy to have these experiences.
How did you acquainted with art50.net? What are your expectations about being in one of Turkey’s leading online art platforms?
We met thanks to Base, but coincidentally, I have already sent my portfolio to art50.net on the recommendation of my artist friend Begüm Mütevellioğlu. Accessibility is one of the most important facts of being at art50.net which is an online platform. The number of people visiting the exhibitions is limited, but within an online platform, you can reach anyone online. You can introduce yourself and share your works from your phone and computer. I aim to reach more people and to share my art via art50.net.
Which artists do you follow? If you had a limitless budget, from whom would you buy an artwork?
I like Server Demirtaş’s artworks. I have also put his works on my thesis, he is especially working on sculptures. I am very interested in the fact that his sculptures are based not only on electronics but on mechanics. Another one would be Stelarc’s pieces.
As an artist and educator who has existed in the art for years, what would you recommend to recent graduate artists?
I recommend students to try everything, to focus on other disciplines and alternatives rather than focusing only on one thing. I would suggest them to go on the path that they would like to, to believe in themselves and not to heed the restrictions too much. I would ask them to try various materials. Today we live in a digitalized world, and everything is in a state of change and transformation. Sculptures are now produced using VR, in digital media. In this context, it is important to keep up with the time. In addition to the traditional education, they should also learn what is happening up to date.
Click for the artist page.
Interview: Sena Arcak Bağcılar