Meet 2022’s SVA Summer Residency Winner: Feyzi Kutay Tufekci

Feyzi Kutay Tufekci (b.2000) is a Turkish American painter born and raised in Istanbul. He received a Distinguished Scholars Scholarship from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and expects to graduate in 2023 with a BFA for Painting and Drawing. Kutay is a founding member of Kiki & Bouba Galleries, an artist-run gallery currently located in Chicago, IL.

In his work Kutay feeds off of; Anatolian History, Religious Iconography, Turkish Literature, and Calligraphy. Using his autobiography as a starting point and a foundation, in his practice Kutay talks about the term “Alaturca” which is backward-looking traditionalism. Kutay paints with an airbrush most of the time playing with contrast, lighting, and complex pattern making. Paintings build up in multiple intricate layers of abstract imagery as they morph into each other to create the final image.

Photos of Kutay’s art – from the “Open Workshop of SVA’s Artist Residency Program Summer” dated July 5th – are below.