Sabahaddin Rüstem and His Owner
50x60 cm Oil and printing ink on canvas, and installation
The owner of Sabahaddin Rüstem is an unfortunate man for whom everything went wrong in his life. He’d been fired from every job he found, he had never received the money that people owned to him. People generally make fun of him and humiliate him. The girl he was in love with married another man. He is so unfortunate that, everything that he puts his hand on either breaks down or falls apart. Finally when he could not pay his rent, he was kicked out of the house with his best friend Sabahaddin Rüstem. The owner of Sabahaddin Rüstem works in temporary jobs and tries to make his living. Every evening, he sets a feast table for himself, finishes a bottle of 35cc raki. He tells his sorrows to Sabahaddin Rüstem. The bird, feels sorry for him, pities him. However he cannot do anything because he cannot talk. Oh, if he could just speak, what stories he could tell you!
Çilingir Table (Feast table specific for drinking): It’s a very common tradition in Turkey. It’s generally spontaneously set up. Low tables are preferred. Maximum amount of raki is drunk with minimum amount of food. Usually white cheese and fruits are there on the table. Traditional Turkish tea cups are commonly used instead of special rakı glasses. This way, it’s easier to finish the raki in one sip. People get emotional and moody by drinking, and then drink more because they are emotional and moody. Classical Turkish music and traditional songs accompany this ritual.
Osman and his owner
50x60 cm oil on canvas and installation
The owner of Osman is a spinster. She tries to talk to every living thing in the house. Even if she sees a fly, she tries to meet it. She drinks coffee every day, closes the cup and reads her fortune. She still hopes to get married one day. Osman is her 4th cat. She is in love with him. Osman smokes too much, therefore he coughs all the time and he is generally grumpy. His owner tries to hide the cigarettes away from him but since he’s a cat, he finds them easily. Before starting his search, he generally yells: “where the hell are my cigarettes damn it?!”
Osman’s owner may try to impress you with her “seductive” looks. So, be careful.
Closing the coffee cup: It’s a very common tradition in Turkey. After drinking Turkish coffee, people turn the cup upside down and wait for it to cool down. Then they open the coffee cup and they read their fortune out of the coffee stains that take various shapes. They try to interpret them regarding the past, present and future.
Flowers in the cans: Planting flowers into cans and yoghurt containers is a very common practice in Turkey. People also use plastic bottles as flower pots. You can see many flowers in many houses in Turkey. It is never seen bizarre.
Junkie Zühtü and his owner
50x60 cm Oil on canvas and installation
Zühtü is a weird-winged animal, and he is quite unlucky with his owner. His owner used to be a cocaine addict. He is a professor at a university and does various experiments. One day when he was high on cocaine, he thought “What if I mix duck and seagull?” Then he combines the DNAs of these two animals through artificial insemination. Then he felt this was not enough and said “Wait! I’ll add some human DNA too!” Just as if he was cooking a new recipe. Then he inserted the DNA mixture into a goose’s uterus which was amongst the lab animals of his. This is how our Zühtü was born. The first thing he did was to drink beer when he got out of the egg. Then he became a much worse cocaine addict than his owner. He was drinking and having cocaine too much that his owner had to quit drugs and work just for Zühtü. Zühtü is very aggressive. He swears a lot, attacks everyone with his beak. His last victim of beak attack is the artist.
The lace and decorative ornaments over the TV. One of the common practices in Turkey. Through time, same objects started to be seen over computers as well. With these lace and ornaments, the TV becomes a member of the house, rather than just a technological device.
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