mehmet koyunoğlu

İstanbul, 1956 - İstanbul, 2001

Mehmet Koyunoğlu, graduated in 1982 from the National Academy of Fine Arts, Istanbul and shortly after, traveled to Paris. There he immediately opened his first solo show at Galerie Phillippe Fregnac. Later, through the recommendation of Marguerite Lamy, one of the curators of the Louvre Museum, he was accepted to the École de Beaux-Arts, and thus remained in Paris for another two years. At the early age of 19, Koyunoğlu’s drawings surpassed many professional artists and won the award at an international graphics contest held in London and while in Paris, his designs won the first prize in the illustration branch at the National Exhibition Graphic Arts. After leaving France, he engaged in etching in Belgium between 1990 and 1991, and in 1991 he was invited to the Print Biennial organized in Japan. His series of etchings entitled “The Passion of the Flower”, executed in 1992 at the Paris Leblanc atelier, were exhibited at Gallery Nev, Galerie Tête D’or (Brussels) and at Gallery Artimex (Düsseldorf).

Mehmet Koyunoğlu, who drew illustrations for the Hürriyet Gösteri periodical while studying at the Academy, later illustrated a book of poetry and prepared drawings and graphics for the periodical “XXI: Culture of Architecture”. In the autumn of 2001, while working for XXI and getting prepared for his coming up exhibition at Nev, Koyunoğlu died, at the early age of 46. His posthumous retrospective exhibitions were organized in 2004 at Yapı Kredi Kazım Taşkent Art Gallery in Istanbul and in 2005 at Gallery Nev in Ankara.