Erol Akyavaş

When we decided to archive and exhibit the photography of Erol Akyavaş, we were completely unaware of the fact that we would be facing an immense collection of 5000 to 6000 frames. Even more striking were the extremely well organized slide carousels in which they were kept, the notes taken on negatives, cameras and lenses ordered from all around the world, and the seals specially made to authenticate them: “Akyavaş Photography”, “Erol Akyavaş Photography”, “Photo by Erol Akyavaş “, “All Rights Reserved”... These were clear signs of how vital photography was to Akyavaş. He had set up a darkroom of his own even in their very first small apartment in New York. The thousands of frames he shot over the years to come set the tone and the course of both his thinking and his work. It was clear that his photography was nourishing his painting and his painting was flourishing through his photography. In his last exhibition at Galeri Nev in April 2012, we had introduced erotic oils by Akyavaş. With this inspiration, we found it most appropriate to follow it with an exhibition of his erotic photographs. We believe that these two exhibitions will complement each other and it gives us great excitement to invite the viewers to discover the endless number of clues pertaining to this continuity. We would like to extend our deep gratitude to İlona Akyavaş, Mirgün Akyavaş, Yiğit Ekmekçi, Bahattin Öztuncay, Sevim Sancaktar, Seymen Altınyeleklioğlu and Pulat Tacar for their generous support and contributions. They made it possible for us to use his seal for the first time: “Akyavas Photography”!