Server Demirtaş

Born in 1957 in Istanbul, Server Demirtaş started his education in the Painting Department of the State Academy of Fine
Arts in 1977. While at the Academy, which will later be known as Mimar Sinan University, Server Demirtaş took classes in
the atelier of Devrim Erbil, a significant Turkish painter renown for his paintings of Istanbul silhouettes. After graduating,
Server Demirtaş conducted joint works with Adnan Çoker, another prominent artist who has become a pioneer of Turkish
Abstract Art. A master of creativity and construction, Server Demirtaş brings life to his artistic machines with intricate
engineering. As a young child, Demirtaş was amazed and excited by mechanical objects; he learned mechanics and
production methods from his technician Father. As a student, Server started a business creating unique and special
cardboard boxes for pastry shops, as well as paper toys. During those times, Demirtaş also built machines to assist in
production, including one for making paper parasols. Early on in his artistic career, Demirtaş was known for threedimensional artworks created with PVC-coated newspapers. A graduate of the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University with a focus
in painting, Server Demirtaş has been passionate about building mechanical sculptures in movement as well as video art
since 1997. Demirtaş's innovative sense of art, which constantly seeks variation, gave birth to his moving sculptures in
1997, now called “kinetic sculptures”, which are a combination of various machine parts. The mechanical sculptures require
long processes and have eventually become important samples of Kinetic Sculpture in Turkey. Demirtaş also finds
inspiration in the mechanical works of old masters such as Al-Jazari and Leonardo da Vinci, as well as the sculptures of Swiss
artist Jean Tinguely. This pushes us to reconsider the relationships between art and science, and technology and people.
The artist's studio is his home. He conceives and designs the mechanics and produces his sculptures by himself in his studio
in Taksim, Istanbul. The workspace is filled with a wide variety of objects from vintage toys to sculptures, plants, and a few
odds and ends neatly displayed on shelves. Dedicated to his passion of mechanical sculptures in movement, Demirtaş
spends most of his time in Istanbul in his studio and keeps designing and building inventive creations that communicate
his personal history.