Painter and poet Komet dies at 81

ISTANBUL

Turkish painter and poet Gürkan Coşkun, also known as Komet, has died of cancer at the age of 81. He was generally known for his paintings and engravings that blend imagination and reality.

Born in the central Anatolian province of Çorum in 1941, the artist studied at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University after finishing Çorum High School. He worked in the workshops of Halil Dikmen and Zeki Faik İzer. He painted various human appearances in complex and crowded groups on the canvas. The painter, who mostly used black color in his paintings, emphasized the theme of death and pain with the colors red, pink and yellow.

He studied at Vincennes University’s Department of Plastic Arts in Paris, where he went in 1971 with a state
scholarship. He opened his first exhibition in Rouen, France in 1974.

Living in Istanbul and Paris, Komet opened 15 exhibitions in Türkiye, nine in Paris, and one each in Vienna, Salzburg, Lausanne and Brussels. He also participated in many international exhibitions. His works have been exhibited in museums such as the Lausanne Canton Museum, the Vienna Museum of Modern Arts, the Copenhagen Graphic Arts Museum, the Paris Museum of Modern Arts and Istanbul Modern.