The 30th DYO painting contest winners announced

The 30th DYO Painting Contest orginized by the Yasar Foundation for Education and Culture was held in the Cesme Altinyunus Complex. The results of the contest were announced with a press meeting by the jury consisting of the important names of the Turkish Art World such as a Avni Arbas, Ferruh Basaga, Naile Akinci, Professor Munir Ekonomi, professor Hayati Misman, Nazan Olcer and Abdulkadir Gunyaz.

The annual painting contest has been held for 30 years with the attendance of artists from national and international scale. This year, 669 painter applied to the contest with 1,204 painting from Turkey, Sweden, Greece and Switzerland. Tayyer Eren with "Figur" got the first price, Deniz Bayav with "Kaybolan" got second, Ryza Savas with "Korku" third and Zeynep Ozdemir with "Isimsiz" got four prize. In the contest, Ilgin Veryeri was awarded with a special success award for "The Ray in Water" in both "Pentur" and original print category. Some 72 paintings were selected for exhibitions held in various cities like Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa, Ankara and Antalya.

The award ceremony will be held at the Istanbul Military Museum and Culture Center on the October 22. The DYO Painting Contest has been organized to support Turkish painting and to give and oppurtunity to young painters to introduce their artistic talent. Many famous Turkish painters gained their first success in this contest since 1967. According to the rules of the contest, all the paintings must be original, unique and free to commercial worries.

A member of the jury, Ferruh Basaga, said:"The DYO Painting Contest is an important turning point for painters in their art careers because it is always difficult to reach the public and to find a place to exhibit pieces, so this contest is a step for them. In the 1950's, it was impossible to find an art gallery for exhibition but these contest are supporting newcomers to the art world.Another point is that, these paintings will be exhibited in various cities. On the other hand, the international character of the contest is playing a uniting role between all the artists because art is a kind of communication instrument for establishing new relationships between different cultures. Besides its national character, this contest is open to all foreign painters. It is nice to see the progress of the companies in these contests".

Feyhan Kalpaklioglu, vice chairman of Yasar Foundation for Education and Culture emphasized that the DYO Painting Contest is taking an important place in the art world. Kalpaklioglu said,"The DYO Painting Contest has carried out an important responsibility for gaining new painters to the art world since 1967 and in getting the public and artist together."

Izmir-Turkish Daily News