Arts & Entertainment

Making Art With News Headlines

By Erinn McKenzie 

Staff Writer 

A poster on Cem Kocyildirim’s desk says “Everything is So F*cked Up.” That’s one of the first things a visitor might see in Kocyildrim’s studio in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where he creates art with plenty of messages, some subtle, some not so subtle.

“She Said” is how he titled one piece. It’s a series of circles, with photocopied bits of New York Times articles about the #MeToo Movement, economic recession and mass incarceration glued in.

Kocyildirim’s “Resistance Begins at Home” piece borrows from actual Times headlines. It’s newspaper articles layered over with sheer shades of neon pink and fluorescent yellow. It’s about Trump’s immigration policies and why art matters in America, the artist said.

“I don’t have a formula,” Kocyildirim said. “I just read. If it gets my attention and it makes me feel excited or angry. Like, feel anything … I try to combine them.”

No matter what his art conveys, Kocyildirim said, he is not an activist. He doesn’t see the art as social commentary. It’s just art about how some things are in the world today. “I don’t have one point that I’m trying to prove,” he said. “Whatever is on the news at that moment and whatever I’m feeling that moment that affects it a lot.”

By “it,” he was referring to his art. Not all of it centers on political and social issues and controversies, he said. He insisted that he is not making art purely for its shock value.

Born in Ankara, Turkey, Kocyildirim, 32, started out studying mechanical engineering. But after getting his college degree, he decided to shift his focus to art. “Mechanical engineering wasn’t hands-on enough for me. I assumed you would build things. But, it’s, like, more on paper. So, you just calculate,” he said. “I wanted something more hands-on. That’s why I started photography and sculpture classes.”

Though some budding artists have a hard time convincing their parents that they should pursue such an iffy and crowded field as art, Kocyildirim said, his parents eventually backed him. “I mean, I wanted to quit mechanical engineering … So, they were not into that,” he said.

A professor suggested art schools. Kocyildirim enrolled to study for a master of fine arts degree, focusing on design and technology, at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan.

An O-1B visa, which is given to art and entertainment professionals, allows him to live legally in the United States as he continues to refine and sell his art.

Kocyildirim’s art is marketed through his company, Authorized to Work in the US. “I have shirts with the Authorization to Work in the US, but I wasn’t wearing them in Turkey … I didn’t want to risk. Because if someone doesn’t understand” he said, referring to the message on the shirt, “they feel weird about it.”

Relations between the United States and Turkey have been strained.

For $20 a month, subscribers to Kocyildirim’s “News of the Month” art service receive one of Kocyildirim’s prints. Those are series of news articles pieced together in one print that have been layered together through the Risograph technique.  

Kocyildirim said he hopes that his work will be a lasting testament to a particular time in history.

“You will remember,” he said. “And it’s, like, nostalgic to see parallels to your day … and kind of remember what’s been going on.”