Ismail Acar is a leading Turkish artist in painting. He was born in 1971 and graduated in 1991 from the College of Fine Arts of the Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey with honors. In 1993, Acar received his Master of Arts degree in "Technology and Art", as well as in "Postmodernism". His paintings have been exhibited at many galleries within Turkey and abroad, as well as in museums and private collections. The artist had fifty six solo and well over forty joint exhibitions by 2005.
East meets west, and tens of thousands of years' history meets today in a contemporary way by Ismail Acar's paintings. We can also see at the Acar's paintings, all ethnicities, culture and religions meet each others. Currently, Acar has been continuing his work in Istanbul.
Ismail Acar applies contemporary media techniques, including computer technology, to traditional painting techniques. "Anatolian Kings and Gods", "Hagia Sophia and Byzantine", "Dervish and Rumi", "Hagia Sophia and Imaginary Projections", "Pomegranate", "National Defence Women", "Harem and Rakkase", "Three Istanbul: The Capital of Cultures", "Sultans", "Kaftans", "Tile-Calligraphy", "Roses-Gulname", and "Porcelain Kingdoms" are some of the concepts of his exhibitions.
He received lessons from and studied wall painting with Prof. M. Plevneli, gravure and printing with Prof. T. Erdogmus, wood press with Prof. Mustafa Aslier, pattern with Prof. B. Cimsir Ali, Turkish Art with Prof. O. Aslan Apa, Sociology of Art with Prof. Nermi Ugur, design with Prof. M. Özer, Byzantine Art with Prof. Semavi Eyice, Aesthetics of Art with Prof. Ismail Tunali, calligraphy and decoration illumination with Mr. Sarkis. He performed wall practice projects with Prof. H. Koçan. He studied exhibition preparation with David Salle.
His 41st individual exhibition titled "Meeting" was in Galata district, with Mevlevi dervishes.
He performed an art exhibition in 1999 in Hagia Sophia Museum in Istanbul for the first time in its 1,600-year-old history that 350,000 people visited.
Ismail Acar and Hagia Sofia was the theme of a documentary film prepared by Serpil Boydak in 1999. Ismail Acar worked on the preparation of the "Hagia Sofia and Imaginary Projections" exhibition with Prof. Semavi Eyice. He painted the world's largest open-air wall-art project in KaÅŸ port, in Antalya in 2000, titled "Clean Nature Clean World". It is 350 m wide and it can be seen from 5 km distance. The artist often concentrates on themes such as kaftans, Istanbul (as the historical Byzantine, Ottoman and the Republic eras), Hagia Sophia, calligraphy, the struggle of women, sultans' portraits, gods and rulers of Anatolia in time, history and geography.
The other major exhibitions of Acar held in the Topkapi Palace Museum and the Military Museum in Istanbul, and the Museum of Painting and Sculpture in Ankara, and the Museum of Painting and Sculpture in Izmir. He also held exhibitions in Geneva, Prague and Saint Tropez in 2001, Davos, Switzerland in January 2003, and Tokyo, Japan, and New York in February 2003, Bahrain in May 2004.
A major three part art event held during the 51° International Biennale of Venice. Sultans in Venice Exhibition on June 10, 2005.
Ismail Acar has been donating one part of the income of all his exhibitions since 2001 to social charity foundations and institutions.
