BEDRI
BAYKAM
Turkish artist
Lives in Istanbul
BIOGRAPHY
Bedri Baykam was born in Ankara, Turkey, in 1957.
Bedri Baykam is one of Turkey's most internationally renowned artists. He has presented international exhibitions since the age of six and continues to do so around the world today.
He studied at the Sorbonne and the drama school L'Actorat in Paris between 1975 and 1980. He lived in California from 1980 to 1987, where he studied painting and filmmaking at the California College of Arts and Crafts (CCAC). He returned to Turkey in 1987 to establish his studio.
He has organized 152 solo exhibitions worldwide, in addition to numerous group exhibitions. Baykam is one of the pioneers of the Abstract Expressionist movement and multimedia political art. He also became one of the graffiti artists who changed the face of New York in the 1980s. By bringing large-scale works, politics, and eroticism to the contemporary art scene, which he has standardized since the 1980s, the artist began producing "4D" (four-dimensional) works that have attracted significant attention worldwide, as an extension of his series of transparent layers enriched with digital imagery and various transparencies on which he has worked for the past two decades.
He is the author of 32 published books, and there are 52 catalogs and 8 books about his works.
Baykam, one of the founders of the International Association of Plastic Arts, affiliated with UNESCO, served as the president of the Turkish National Committee of this organization for 18 years and continues to contribute as Honorary President. In 2015, at the 18th General Assembly of the International Association of Art (AIAP/IAA), the official partner of UNESCO, held in Pilsen, Czech Republic, Bedri Baykam was elected World President and held this position for seven and a half years. He handed over the presidency to the Korean president at the 19th Extraordinary General Assembly of AIAP/IAA held in Istanbul in 2023 and became the Honorary President of the IAA.
In 2011, Baykam’s proposal to create a World Art Day on the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci, during the 17th General Assembly of the IAA in Guadalajara, Mexico, was unanimously accepted by the participating countries. Since then, each year, a growing number of artists' associations in many countries celebrate "World Art Day," with various art forms blending harmoniously. In 2019, UNESCO accepted the proposal brought by Baykam, as World President of the IAA, and World Art Day officially became one of UNESCO's International Days.
Still active in politics, Baykam, who was a member of the Assembly of the Social Democratic Party (CHP) and a presidential candidate for that party in 2003, continues to be one of the most active intellectual and political figures of the opposition.
Baykam has also been a general columnist for several publications. He currently writes for the oldest daily, “Cumhuriyet.”
The artist founded Piramid Film and Publishing (1998) and Piramid Sanat (art center, 2006) at Taksim Square in Istanbul, one of the most active and independent spots for contemporary art. He has also curated several group exhibitions.
Baykam primarily lives and works in Istanbul; he is married to journalist and writer Sibel Baykam, and their son, Suphi Baykam, was born in 1999.
INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS
-Art Lovers Club, Ankara (Childhood Works), 1963
-Galerie du Bac, Paris (Childhood Works), 1964
-Galerie Il Bilico, Roma (Childhood Works), 1965
-Greer Gallery, New York City (Childhood Works), 1965
-American Friends Gallery, Washington D.C., (Childhood Works), 1966
-Galerie Schumacher, Munich (Childhood Works), 1967
-Konstfackskolan, Stockholm (Childhood Works), 1967
-Galerie Horhammer, Helsinki (Childhood Works), 1968
-Atatürk Cultural Center, İstanbul (Neo-Expressionist Works), 1983
-Artexpo, Coliseum, New York City (Neo-Expressionist Works), 1983
-City Gallery, San Francisco (Neo-Expressionist Works), 1983
-Martin / Molinary Gallery, New York City (Neo-Expressionist Works), 1984
-Gallery Baraz, İstanbul (Neo-Expressionist Works), 1984
-Atatürk Cultural Center, İstanbul (Neo-Expressionist Works), 1985
-Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris (Neo-Expressionist Works), 1985
-Galerie Wanda Reiff, Hulsberg-Holland (Neo-Expressionist Works), 1985
-Va Gallery of Contemporary Art, Oakland (Neo-Expressionist Works), 1986
-Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco (Neo-Expressionist Works), 1986
-Atatürk Cultural Center, İstanbul (Stripe Paintings), 1986
-Ayasofya Bath, İstanbul (Live Installations), 1987
-Atatürk Cultural Center, İstanbul (Political Installations), 1988
-E. M. Donahue Gallery, New York City (Photo-Newspaintings), 1988
-Galerie Lavignes-Bastille, Paris (Remakes of Masters), 1990
-Atatürk Cultural Center, İstanbul (“555 K” 27th of May 1960 Revolution), 1990
-E. M Donahue Gallery, New York City (Drip Series), 1992
-Art-Jonction, Cannes (Livart), 1994
-Galerie Lavignes-Bastille, Paris (Livart, etc…), 1994
-Museum of Revolution, Havana (40th of the Cuban Revolution), 1999
-Galerie Zafira, Paris (Le Dreamcorder), 1999
-Atatürk Cultural Center, İstanbul (My Twentieth Century), 1999
-Galerie Lavignes-Bastille, Paris (Girly Plots), 2002
-Siyah Beyaz Gallery, Ankara (Girly Plots), 2002
-Sarajevo Turkish Cultural Center, Sarajevo – Bosnia (Girly Plots), 2004
-Piramid Sanat, İstanbul (Introducing the 4Ds), 2007
-Broadway Gallery, New York (Lolitart(e) Series), 2007
-Maison de L’Amerique Latine de Monaco, Monte-Carlo (The 4D Works), 2008
-Alphonse Berber Gallery, San Francisco/Berkeley, California (4Ds), 2009
-Museum Pinacotheque de Paris, Paris (Homage to Munch), 2010
-Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art, İstanbul (Homage to Munch), 2011
-Roland Garros, Musee de la FFT, Paris (Histoire de Roland-Garros en 4D), 2011
-Gallery Merkür, İstanbul (Voyeur of History), 2011
-Galerie Artist, Berlin (Homage to Munch), 2012
-Piramid Sanat, İstanbul (Voyeur of History), 2013
-Galerie Lavignes-Bastille, Paris (4Ds and Voyeur of History), 2013
-The Proposition, New York (EmptyFrame), 2013
-Piramid Sanat, İstanbul (8 Seconds that Changed the World), 2013
-Tap Gallery, Sydney (Wild Thing, You Make My Heart Sing), 2016
-Galerie Kuchling, Berlin (I Wish I Had a Harem), 2017
-National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Kyiv (From Last Decade), 2018
-Şevket Sabancı Cultural Center, Bodrum (Visual Adventures), 2019
-Siyah Beyaz Gallery, Ankara (Painterly Matters), 2019
-Gloria Delson Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles (Visual Adventures), 2019
-Piramid Sanat, İstanbul (Studio’s Lost & Found), 2021
-Flamm, Bodrum (I’m not Afraid of Art), 2021
-Villa Levante, İzmir (Mixed Series), 2022
-Ada Modern, Kuşadası (Metamorphose), 2022
-Gloria Delson Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles (Still Wet), 2023
-Siyah Beyaz Gallery, Ankara (The Path Openers and Their Paths), 2024
-Şevket Sabancı Cultural Center, Bodrum (Masterpieces), 2024
-Galerie S/Beaubourg, Paris. (The Demoiselles Revisited), 2025
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
-Art ’78. İstanbul, 1978
-Salon de Montrouge. Paris, 1985
-1st International İstanbul Bienale, 1987
-International Mediterranean Contemporary Art Show. Bari-Italy, 1989
-International Mahares Plastic Arts Festival. Tunusia, 1990
-Contemporary Turkish Art Show. Tokyo-Japan, 1991
-Foreigner- A Traveler. Schiedamm Stedeljik Museum, Holland, 1993
-Turkish-Greek Artists Group Show: Face to Face. İstanbul-Atina, 1997-1998-2000
-International Cairo Biennale. Egypt, 1998
-La Course Camarguaise, Cercle d’Art Du Cailar. Camargue, France, 2000
-Sacred Mediterranean. Cataniâ University, Sicily, 2001
-II. International Buenos Aires Biennale. Argentina, 2002
-Edges of the Earth. China Art Academy, Hangzhou, China, 2003
-Love for Sale. Bank Side Gallery, London, 2005
-Nine Dragon Heads 2005. Cheong Ju, Korea, 2005
-The Edge. Kochi Museum, Japan, 2005
-Art Caucasus 2005. Tbilisi, Georgia, 2005
-40 Artistes Contemporains En Hommage a Fikret Mualla. La Petite Galerie, Paris, 2007
-Meeting Point. Archola Theatre, London, 2007
-An Archaeological Dig of the Wind: 40th Anniversary of the 68 Movement. İstanbul, 2008
-Group Show. Opera Gallery. London, 2009
-Simultaneity - Parallels - Opposites. Akademie der Künste Hanseatenweg, Berlin, 2009
-İstanbul Next Wave, Martin-Gropius Haus with İstanbul Modern. Berlin, 2009
-Van Gogh, on the Trails of Modernism. Ankara, 2010
-Typology of Turkish Contemporary Art. Culturel Centrum Hasselt, Belgium, 2010
-Press Art. Kunstmuseum, St. Gallen, 2010
-Press Art. Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, 2010
-The Huma Kabakçı Collection. Osthaus Museum, Hagen, 2010
-The Huma Kabakçı Collection. Modern Hungarian Gallery, 2010
-An İstanbul Legacy. Lahd Gallery, London, 2010
-Al GHAIB- Aesthetics of the Disappearance. Sharjah, Dubai, 2011
-Contemporary Turkish Art. Auction by Sotheby’s, London, 2011
-A Selection from Turkish Contemporary Art. Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts, Baku, 2011
-Fliegen/Flying. Künstlerhaus Bethanian, Berlin, 2012
-45 Artists at the 45th Year. Yunus Emre Cultur Center, Brussels, 2012
-İstanbul Modern Koleksiyonu. Bahrain National Museum Group Show, Bahrain, 2013
-Ithaca Returned. Contemporary Art Museum of Crete, Crete, Greece, 2013
-Ithaca Returned. Municipal Gallery, Ithaca Island, Greece, 2013
-Post-Picasso: Contemporary Reactions. Barcelona Museum, Barcelona, 2014
-The Art of the Turks. Rheinlande und Westfalen Art Center, Düsseldorf, 2015
-Words: Barış Manço. Galatasaray Museum, İstanbul, 2015
-56th Venice Biennial, Nine Dragon Heads. Palazzo Loredan dell Ambasciatore. Italy, 2015
-Lines of Passage. Elgiz Museum/Halimbey Mansion, Lesvos, Greece, 2016
-Made by Artist. Block 33. Thessaloniki, Greece, 2016
-Imago Mundi Mediterranean Routes. ZAC Zisa Contemporary Art Zone, Palermo/Italy, 2017
-A New World. METU Art. Ankara, 2018
-Paper. Pilevneli Gallery. İstanbul, 2019
-Contemporary Art from Turkey. Modern Art Research Institute of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Kyiv, 2020
-Searching for Freedom. Stadt Galerie Badehaus/Bade Soden Museum, Germany, 2020
-”And Now The Good News”. Nobel Collection. Pera Museum, İstanbul
-90s on Stage. Salt Beyoglu. İstanbul, 2022
-90s on Stage. Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg, 2024
-Nomadic Party. Spazio Punch, Venice Bienalle parallel event, 2024
