Erol Akyavaş

About

Erol Akyavaş was a Turkish artist born in 1932, who studied painting as a guest student at the Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu studio at the Fine Arts Academy in Istanbul before pursuing further education abroad. He worked in the ateliers of Fernand Léger and André Lhote in Paris, joined the group 'Cercle et Carré,' and studied architecture with Mies van der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago from 1954 to 1960. Also engaging in photography, particularly nudes, he ultimately returned to painting, developing a unique style blending Eastern and Western influences, including Islamic art, Sufism, calligraphy, architecture, and elements from Cubism to Surrealism. His work explored themes of social memory, cultural heritage, existential philosophy, religion, and sexuality, often using motifs like labyrinths, tents, city walls, and Arabic letters.[1][2][3][4]

Synthesis of Eastern Islamic art, Sufism, calligraphy, and Western modernism from Cubism to Surrealism