Biography
Born in Istanbul in 1956 into a family deeply involved in the arts, his grandfather, Arif Koyunoğlu, was one of the first renowned architects of the Republic era, the architect of the Ankara Ethnography Museum and the Painting and Sculpture Museum (Turkish Hearth Building). His interest in painting emerged in the 1960s during his early childhood years spent in Ankara and Aydın provinces due to his father's civil service postings. In 1974, he prepared models for a children's play staged at the State Theatre and graduated from the British High School that same year. In 1975, he won an award at the International Graphic Competition organized by Magic Marker pen company in London, surpassing hundreds of professional artists. In 1977, he participated in the Turkish National Painting Exhibition. In 1979, he created illustrations for the Hürriyet Show art and literature magazine. In 1982, he graduated from the Graphic Arts Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Mimar Sinan University. He then went to Paris. Marguerite Lamy, a former curator at the Louvre Museum, and art critic Jacques Normand, greatly admired his paintings and persuaded him to stay in Paris. During this period, he met illustrator Jean Paul Chaignot and learned the Airbrush technique. In 1983, he entered the Iscan studio at the Paris Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts. During his time in the studio, he frequently visited Normand's studio, a former Picasso studio where David Hockney also frequently came to paint.
