Born in Istanbul in 1975, Tuncay Takmaz currently lives and works in Istanbul. He began his career as an accountant in 1996 but changed his field after meeting Ekrem Kahraman, an inspirational Turkish painter, and subsequently became his assistant. Takmaz has held numerous solo and group exhibitions since 1996 at galleries including Kare Art Gallery, Istanbul (2009); Art Forum, Ankara (2005); and Ilayda Art Gallery, Istanbul (2005), amongst others, and has his work placed in a number of private collections internationally. In 1997, Takmaz co-established the Cekirdek Art Union and became the editor of Cekirdek Art magazine. Tuncay Takmaz’s works can be described as chaotic collages of human characters, animals, and objects that are rendered from first-hand observation and reinterpreted as fluid sites of energy and motion. Alternating between various figurative approaches in a single composition, the artist creates bustling scenes of Turkish life. The figures of Takmaz’s paintings are based on the colourful residents and pedestrians near his studio on Istikal Street in Istanbul. Stylised portraits of these characters are intertwined as the artist attempts to discover and build links between them.