1. When was Artopol founded?
Artopol Art Gallery was founded in November 2019, backed by over 20 years of art experience, with the mission of institutionalizing art in Turkey.
2. Could you tell us about the artists you represent and their styles?
Artopol Art Gallery represents nearly 100 young and mid-career artists, and this number continues to grow every day. These are artists who stand out with their unique schools and styles, are on the rise, and despite their young age, have already been included in significant collections. Our artists are selected by an advisory board consisting of curators, academics, art critics, and collectors. You can see various techniques of contemporary art movements in all their works.
Among them, abstract, figurative, realistic, and surreal styles—mainly based on painting on canvas—are dominant, while we also feature distinguished works created using different techniques such as sculpture, printmaking, and digital art.
3. Is the physical space important for a gallery? What will your new space offer?
The gallery space is definitely important for the proper presentation of artworks. Artopol has a strong online platform and a large physical gallery space, offering hundreds of artworks. When designing the physical space, details such as lighting, storage, insurance of artworks, and different display mechanisms were all carefully considered. We have established a new-generation, pioneering, and innovative art gallery that can exhibit hundreds of artworks together—perhaps one of the most noteworthy art spaces in the country.
Our new location actually includes two additional gallery areas apart from our main gallery in 42 Maslak. In the main gallery, we exhibit all the artworks featured on our online platform. In our other space, Artopol Rouge, we host group exhibitions with different concepts. Our third area is designed for solo exhibitions and social responsibility projects.
4. How do you interpret the relationship between decoration and art?
In my opinion, art is above all an investment in the quality of life. The furniture and objects you carefully choose to decorate your living space will remain incomplete and bland without the presence of artworks accompanying them.
Artworks are the soul of both interior and exterior decorations.
5. What are the prominent art movements of recent years?
In recent years, Generation X and even Generation Y art buyers have gained importance. Therefore, this generation, which closely follows contemporary art worldwide, tends to favor abstract and pop-art works that feature different materials, techniques, and applications. Additionally, editioned and digital media works have also become increasingly significant.
6. How did the pandemic and its aftermath affect art galleries?
Frankly, at Artopol, we had foreseen this challenging period to some extent and established a strong online gallery system in January 2020. In the first three months of the pandemic, we also strengthened our social media presence. Through live talks with our artists, we maintained our connection with our followers and had the opportunity to introduce Artopol more closely. From a positive perspective, the pandemic became a period when interest in art increased. As people spent more time at home, they turned to artworks as complementary elements of their home decoration. On the negative side, the general economic contraction also affected the art market. Still, accessible art has gained more importance.
7. When you think of art and home, how do you interpret the relationship between these two elements?
As I mentioned before, any investment you make in the interior and exterior decoration of a space will not achieve its full meaning without artworks. Even with the most impressive decoration, without artistic objects such as paintings or sculptures, you cannot create the atmosphere you dream of. Art needs homes to live, and homes need art to be livable.
8. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Artopol has brought a very different dimension to the traditional gallery concept. Our 600-square-meter space, filled with hundreds of artworks, offers a venue where you can wander for hours without getting bored and eventually encounter a piece that resonates with you. Those who cannot visit our physical gallery at 42 Maslak can still explore and easily purchase the artworks in detail through our online platform. I invite everyone to experience all of this at Artopol Gallery.
