Bedri Baykam the "Andy Warhol" of Turkey
WolfWolf
17/03/2003
French newspaper Le Monde has published a long article about Turkish artist Bedri
Baykam. The article was entitled "Bedri Baykam, Kemalism and Pop Art."
The article, announced on page one of Le Monde, draws the article and political career
of Turkish painter, writer and political activist Bedri Baykam. Nicolas Monceau
describes Baykam in his article as an artist "whose creativity spills out." Describing
first the exotic atmosphere in Baykam's studio in the 150-year-old Armenian monastery
in Taksim-Tarlabasi, Monceau goes on to remind the reader that the artist got an early
start in his career back in 1963 as a child prodigy with exhibitions running all over
the world.
The article goes through the career of the artist recounting his presence as one of
the pioneers of the Neo-Expressionist art movement as early as 1981 with his famous
work "The Prostitute's Room."
Monceau also mentions in detail the content of Baykam's 1984 Manifesto "Modern Art
History is a Western Fait Accompli" and his 1994 book "Monkeys' Right to Paint." The
artist who accuses the western art establishment of one-sidedly building the modern
and contemporary art scene as solely the history of five rich European nations,
defines himself as a cultural guerilla.
Monceau goes on to describe the heavy eroticism present in Baykam's recent work "Girly
Plots" and "Harem Intrigues" as a suite to his flamboyant installations described as
"Livart" since his first political three dimensional work "The Box of Democracy" in
1987.
Monceau notes that the artist clearly dynamites all the stereotyped images that any
Western artist has about Turkey because nobody would expect his moves filled with
suggestive peep-shows, soundtracks, graffiti, out of control happenings, coming from
an artist who belongs to a Muslim country.
Monceau also gives detailed information about Baykam's activism for secularism and
Kemalism, through the artist's own words, explaining why he applauds the so-called
"Post-Modern Coup d'Etat" of February 28, 1997, and why he doesn't trust Tayyip
Erdogan's AKP's role in the Turkish democracy.
However, in his last statements Baykam emphasizes his lasting trust to the capacities
of Turkey's democratic and artistic forces.