Works from Aydın Doğan Cartoon Contest on display at Gallery Işık

ISTANBUL – DHA

Award-winning caricatures from the 33rd Aydın Doğan International Cartoon Contest are now on display at the Gallery Işık Teşvikiye. 

At a ceremony held for the opening of the exhibition on Feb. 9, Aydın Doğan Executive Committee President Candan Fetvacı noted that the contest had a 30-year history. 

“It is very important to believe in something to make it continuous. We are a platform for all cartoonists in the world to express themselves. The whole world has respect for this contest. We are in contact with 7,500 drawers, who send us their work. For example, this year’s winner Marco De Angelis also won the contest in the 1980s. When he came here he told me that he had been sending his cartoons for 27 years and finally he won,” Fetvacı said. 

“I think this is very good for the representation of our country in the world. It encourages creativity as well as thinking and it gives some very important messages. Sometimes we don’t need words; sometimes we can understand something just by looking at a cartoon. We remember these drawings for many years,” she added. 

Fetvacı said Turkish cartoonists were the “backbone” of the contest and also stressed the importance of young cartoonists taking part.

“We give many awards to Turkish cartoonists. Their drawings are very powerful. I call on young people, students of fine arts faculties and all others who are interested in fine arts to send us their work. This year we initiated a work in collaboration with many universities’ fine arts faculties in Istanbul. We displayed their humorous works and showed them to award-winning cartoonists. We also have very important Turkish jury members who are the basis of our contest,” she added. 

The contest, organized by the Aydın Doğan Foundation, hosted 752 artists and 2,521 cartoons from 68 countries this year. 

This year’s winner was Italian cartoonist Marco De Angelis for his picture depicting a refugee boat on a quilt that was causing Europeans to lose their sleep. 

Brazil’s Claudio Antonio Gomes was second in the contest for his depiction of refugees, while Turkish cartoonist Doğan Arslan placed third. Turkish artist Emrah Arıkan also received a special award.

Necktie and sword 

Arslan’s picture depicting a necktie resembling a sword with a drop of blood described his work as a critique of the modern world.

“In my cartoon there are two important symbols. One is a necktie on a white shirt, with the tip of the necktie turning into a sword. There is a drop of blood on it. The necktie shows modernization but we see that it is also a kind of sword, which is against modernization. It means war, violence, murder and chaos,” he said.

“Actually neckties should not usually come together with swords. This is black humor. I wanted to describe the current situation of modernization,” he added. 

The exhibition featuring the award-winning caricatures will be on display at the Gallery Işık Teşvikiye through Feb. 23.