"An artist's life, according to me, is not separate from his artwork. In fact, it is necessary to consider the whole of an artist's life as an artwork rather than the artwork itself. When I look at Murat's way of behaving as a whole work of art, it impresses me. A person's total sacrifice of himself for a truth... This is how I describe Murat. In addition, I think that Murat left us a life that makes us talk about all of these matters.
The Dervish of Contemporary Painting: Murat Sinkil written by Nergis Abiyeva, on a person who made a veiled, unpretentious and grueling journey that constantly and ruthlessly questioned art and reality."
Mehmet Güleryüz
THE DERVISH OF CONTEMPORARY PAINTING: MURAT SİNKİL
HIS LIFE AND ART
Nergis Abıyeva
Editor: Derya Önder
Project: Nurdan Sinkil
Book Design: Murat Dorkip
Cover Design and Graphic Implementation: Koray Özbey
Photos: Gücügür Görkay
Printed by: Mas Matbaacılık
Cover Painting: Cardboard Box series / Detail / Acrylic on cardboard box / 101x74 cm.
ISBN: 978-605-71491-0-7
1st Edition, July 2022
Paperback, 120 pages
29x23cm.
"This monographic study, which is about the forty-five years of artistic production of the painter Murat Sinkil, examines the distinctive features of Sinkil and assesses those features in the context of art history. The author Nergis Abiyeva prepared the study by relying on Murat Sinkil's painting archive, autobiographical notes and witnessing of his relatives and by cross-checking the information. Therefore, the book provides an important contribution to the history of painting.
Leaving Istanbul behind for good for the sake of his distinctive understanding of art and ideal fiction, Murat Sinkil encountered deepening problems in terms of gallery-buyer-press relations during the twenty-year period that led to this radical decision. He adopted an attitude that opposes the point of view that is pivots around the glorified artists. He consciously rejected the vicious circle of popularity and stagnation in the art community. He did not want to limit his own creative process to the demands of the art market. His artistic production followed the footsteps of this attitude. He revealed his imagination and dreams through painting, sought aesthetics in daily life, and adopted continuity and variability. Choosing freedom in his art, Sinkil was aware that this path was a formidable one, yet he did not back down.
He taught what he knew during his period in Antalya, as he did in Istanbul; he got to know the Mediterranean nature and landscape up-close and he continued his paintings quietly but strongly. He knew how to keep himself away from art circles and out of sight, as if he had the maturity of a dervish; but he was present in the ongoing life and geography with all his existence. The historical themes he worked on during this period, his homeland paintings and three-dimensional objects are indicators of this matter. The path of Sinkil, who criticized himself by saying “I could not find my path…” is in fact a path created by the evolution of his imagination and images inspired by his social and physical environment.
Just like the phrase by Heraclitus which says "Change is the only constant in life", Sinkil's paintings are variable, intense and dynamic, possess the energy that starts and ends in a single session. He saw himself close to the "New Expressionism" movement. But he didn't limit art to this alone."
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selçuk Sayan
Sales Addresses:
www.nadirkitap.com
www.kitantik.com