Reha Akcakaya

CRITIQUES on PHOTOGRAPHIC WORK

Printed Critiques


"His technique however modern it sounds, does not come through as modernistic in effect, on the contrary it lends an oldish, daugerrotyp-like feel to his images, they seem like first, insecure steps in an unknown territory beyond reality. He is not fooled by the officiousness of realism, he asks the final questions, his pictorial language is akin to that of the great masters of landscape painting.

Daniel Bart, art critic,Budapest, Hungary, July 2001

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"...Reha Akcakaya presents a photographic vision of his native Turkey that transports us to those eerie moments when ominous storm clouds eclipse bright sun. Akcakaya's landscape is the old Turkey, the ruins of its pre-modern civilizations and small towns that have not yet been permeated by globalized culture; his technique makes his subjects appear to possess a forbidding power that might daunt any efforts to replace them with new-and-improved sights."

Michael Weinstein, photography critic, NewCity, Chicago, USA, October 1999

"It [the show] provides a moody, romantic tug at the heartstrings. The tug may not be in the manner of today's more matter-of-fact photographic statements, but it is from a classical aspect of photography and, in the hands of a master, very compelling."

Philip Isaacson, photography critic, Maine Sunday Telegram, January 18, 1998

"Simplicity attracts attention as the starting point of Reha Akcakaya's photographs... Reha Akçakaya's technique has first of all saved photography from the monotony in which descriptions of nature have got trapped in."

Seyit Ali Ak, photography critic and historian, Milliyet Sanat Dergisi, 1 May 1995

"Reha Akcakaya catches a sensitivity and well-utilizes this material that is new for Turkey."

Mehmet Bayhan, photography critic and educator, Cumhuriyet Kitap, 8 June 1995

"You better see Reha Akcakaya's photographs, who knows how to interpret this technique."

Engin Özendes, photography critic and historian, Yeni Yüzyil, 17 April 1995


"Reha Akcakaya's photographs emphasize sentimental effects more than mental ones... What comes out is a style that is lightly grained, painting-like, misty, coherent and fluent. The images give you the peace that you might feel when looking at life through a tulle... For an artist, it is ideal to design a personal world outside the ones tried before. I find Reha Akcakaya's work important from this point of view."

Seyit Ali Ak, photography critic and historian, Refo Fotograf Sanati Dergisi, April 1991

"Reha Akcakaya's photograph in the catalogue (I think it was the best of the show),..."

Samih Rifat, photography critic and historian, Yeni Düsün, February 1988

"Aus der Surrealistischen Poetik, aus der Kriegelstein früher so erfolgreich geschöpft hatte, schöften diesmal mehr in ihren Aufnahmen die türkischen Autoren Nuri Bilge Ceylan und Reha Akcakaya."

Vladimir Birgus, Fotografia Academica '84 Exhibition Catalogue, 1984

"Among the last season's exhibitions in Ankara, Reha Akcakaya's infrared work at his show, Journey With the Invisible Light, .... deserves special attention."

Bulletin of the Photographic Art Society, No: 18, October 1996

"These photographs, that are concrete examples of the reflection of a special sensitivity, show that the world can be looked at through a different window as well."

Aktüel (weekly magazine), 18 May 1995

Personal Communication

"The images all work well with the infrared material. They are sensitive, poetic and creative."

Jerry N. Uelsmann

"... dreamy and poignant."

Jonathan Green, director, UCR/California Museum of Photography

"The way you treat the printing of your images is interesting and lends a new dimension to the very traditional genre of landscape photography. The dreamlike quality of the views is quite appealing and the work shows a great mastery of the technique."

Chloé R. Ziegler, director, Stephen Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA

"The prints have a fine technical standard and are seen with a very sensible eye. Some subjects are quite new, because they are not taken with the infrared film until now."

Günter Spitzing, Critic, Hamburg, Germany

"I much enjoyed looking through (the book), especially your technical and compositional skill in handling the infrared material."

Jan-Erik Lundström, Chief Curator, Moderna Museet Photography Division, Stockholm, Sweden

"I feel the quality of your dreamy and poetical images."

J. Claude Lemagny, Bibliotheque Nationale de France

"I think this is the first time such a high-quality landscape exhibition is held in Turkey."

Samih Rifat, photography critic and historian


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