Lot 64: Adnan Coker (Turkish, b. 1927)

Adnan Coker (Turkish, b. 1927)
Untitled
signed, located, titled and dated 'ADNAN COKER 1927-ISTAMBUL-YARATICS A 2008' (on the reverse of the left panel); signed, located, titled and dated 'ADNAN COKER 1927-ISTAMBUL-YARATICS B 2008' (on the reverse of the right panel)
acrylic on canvas; diptych
each: 59 x 59in. (150 x 150cm.); overall: 59 x 118in. (150 x 300cm.)
Painted in 2008 (2)

This lot offered for sale is subject to a 5% import duty on the importation value levied at the time of collection/shipment within the UAE.
Adnan Coker's abstract constructivist work is concerned with volumes of objects, reducing colour to a minimum and shapes to geometric outlines. His interest in the geometry of local Islamic architecture, including domes, triangles and minarets informs much of his work. Using these forms he sees around him, he tries to create a coded language of esoteric meaning. In his large canvases the historical starting points are Seljuk, Byzantine and Ottoman aesthetic concepts and images. Architectural overtones come out strongly in his works. For him black represents the vacuum of space, neutral rather than nihilistic, and not a coloured surface. Other colours are kept to a minimum, with luminous pink, purple and mauve shapes which seem to glow against the black ground. Domed forms feature prominently in Coker's repertoire. Coming from a city dominated by so many majestic domes rising above all other buildings, they represent the city of Istanbul itself. Through minimal means, Coker creates compositions which evoke many associations and readings.