Meltem Şahin
1989, Born in Marmaris, Turkey.
Lives and works in Marmaris and Istanbul.
Education
2016, Maryland Institute College of Art, Art Department, MFA in Illustration Practice
2012, Bilkent University, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, BFA in Graphic Design
As an artist with a background of design and architecture, Meltem uses an ocean of imageries that she collects and use them with or without consciousness, as if spills from one’s inside to the ocean where other possible images can be made.Believing in the uniqueness of each artist as filters but those filters, according to French philosopher Marleau Ponty, comes from inside, a painter does not choose a style but this style is an integral part of artwork or nature. While she is producing, she feels the same, as if she is revealing something that is already forcing her, a continuation of her body, an extension of her time, and reflection of her cultural patterns.
As an artist who is raised in Turkey, she observed the idealized beauty of Western culture alongside that of the East, which commemorates beauty that is imperfect and transient. Since her childhood, Şahin leaned toward the Eastern side and was interested in the oddness of the universe, details of its beauty, melancholy of its passing time. With her illustrations, she attempts to create a language that may not necessarily imitate real life's supposed appearances, which entertain and alienate individuals from their own existences, instead creating figures that have a humanistic, and sensitive approach without any specific race, social status or qualifiers of beauty.
Due to her curious nature, the artist tends to explore new areas that she has never entered. 3 years ago for instance, she started learning digital fabrication tools like Laser-cutting and 3-D printing along with electronics for artists. Thanks to these new media, she started creating optical illusion toys that work electronically or mechanically. Regardless of what the final medium is animation, ceramics, or toys my pieces belong to the universe that people of neon colors floating in space either hermaphrodite or androgynous will invite you to join their uncanny experience. While they are making the experiencer feel pain and pleasure at the same time, they will make them get their essence intuitively.
Along with her artistic works, her illustrations are also featured in many magazines, including Trendsetter, Bant Mag. and sabitfikir. The children book “Nasreddin Hodja // Candle Power“ that she contributed with illustrations exhibited at Bologna Children Book Fair in 2013. She also contributed many child books with her illustrations.
