Media Release
November 2000

Light Millennium Proudly Presents...

Erol Akyavas: The Mark of the East
(Dogunun Izleri)

Program : Erol Akyavas:The Mark of the East/
Dogunun Izleri *(1)
Series Title: The Light Millennium TV
Producer : Bircan UNVER
Broadcasting schedule:
On November 6, Channel 34, 10:00PM on, Queens Public Television
On November 9, Channel 35, 3:00PM on, QPTV,
On November 20, Channel 34, 10:00PM on, QPTV,
On November 23, Channel 35, 3:00PM on, , QPTV
Language : Turkish
Length : 30min.

The program "Erol Akyavas/Dogunun Izleri" (The Mark of the East), captures one of the most prominent Turkish painter and architecture. Erol Akyavas's paintings bring out his philosophy in art, and particularly it exposes his period of the 1980's - 1990's in a documentary approach. Akyavas is a unique artist, who has transformed Eastern - Islamic philosophy and also religious symbols and forms into contemporary art in a new aesthetic form.

Erol Akyavas was born in 1932, in Istanbul, Turkey and he has lived the last forty years in the US, mostly in New York. His first solo exhibition was held in the Art Colony Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio. The New York Museum of Art acquired one of his paintings "Glory of the Kings" and added it to the "contemporary paintings" collection in 1959.

The program "Erol Akyavas/Dogunun Izleri" was produced by Bircan Unver in October 1997 through Queens Public Television facilities. Narration composed by Bircan Unver and read by Bircan Unver & Utku Marangoz.

About Erol AKYAVAS

Erol Akyavas (Istanbul 1932) entered the sphere of Western art in the 1950's and very early made a name for himself. Exploring deep realms of the mind through free Tâchist compositions in keeping with the styles of the day, the artist gradually began to introduce the themes of his own traditions, of an Eastern aesthetic. Evincing a Muslim sensibility in more decided fashion during the 197880's, Akyavas placed himself at the center of a major question of identity and tradition with regard to Turkish painting. Giving ever more prominence to light and color, he has shown himself to be one of the few artist who again turn to the sacred for meaning in their work, bringing to the way of Islam o mode of expression which is contemporary through and through.

In the course of a career which now spans more than forty years, Erol Akyavas has essayed a number of formal approaches, always in a language that is unfettered, free. His early style made us of stains and calligraphic imagery, of abstract forms, while later on he brought the figure to his canvasses, as well as architectural motifs; his compositions involving irrational juxtaposition that bordered on the Surreal, with stain, sign, writing, the figure and abstract forms cohabiting the same space. In recent years, however, imagery in the paintings of Akyavas has more and more given way to color and light. *(2)

*1) "Erol Akyavas: The Mark of the East/Dogu'nun Izleri" video program is available at the Queens Public Libraries.
*2) The book "Erol Akyavas", by Jale Necdet Erzen, Enlem 80 Modern Turkish Plastic Arts Publications Series, printed in Ankara-Turkey, in Turkish&English, First Edition, 1995, back cover page.

* * * * *

Also at the Light Millennium TV series in November:
Honore Daumier: Retrostpective Exhibition
A video documentary from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Exhibition in 1993,
Produced by Bircan Unver
Broadcasting Schedule:
On November 13, Channel 34, 10:00PM, on, QPTV
On November 16, Channel 35, 3:00PM, on, QPTV
On November 27, Channel 34, 10:00PM, on, QPTV
On November 30, Channel 35, 3:00PM, on, QPTV

CONTACT : lightmillennium@yahoo.com
Phone : (718) 847 4548
Fax : (718) 847 4667

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