Why do we create?

It is a privilege to be a sculptor but it is hard to explain someone’s art in words. If I could use words to explain myself I would be a poet or a writer rather than a sculptor. But I wanted to write about why I create and also attempt to relate my motivations with the motivations behind prehistorical art.

Sculpting is a way to communicate for me, a way to record my emotions and perspectives and also share them, share my perception of the life around me. I feel like I am almost compelled to do this since I started sculpting. It is not to please anyone. It is something I have to do, what my heart tells me to do, perhaps to be able to leave something from my own to this world, it is an act of giving for me. 

Hacilar Region, Chalcolithic Period, Circa 5th Millennium B.C.

And when you look into prehistoric art you will find similar motivations. There are examples of art more than 40,000 years old that were found in caves in Europe and Africa.  it is speculated that these first examples were made for communication, or religious, ceremonial or spiritual reasons. 

But how about the origins of creation for the sake of creating?

Maybe because I belong there but more than any other form of art, art of the Anatolian civilizations attracts me the most.  They are so pure and simple.  Decorated objects such as clay pots were made almost 12,000 years ago. The shapes and the abstract decorations on them were the first indications of people looking for beauty.  They were reflections of their observations from nature.  This clay pot for example is from 5,000 BC. The motif on it resembles a meander which is still being used in Anatolia on carpets, and rugs. It is the symbol of running of water, the eternal symbol of the flow of life.  It is functional yet beautiful and simple. 12,000 years ago then it started.

Woman Sculpture with silver
and gold,
B.C. 3000, Hasanoglan

Then, the human figures started to appear in art objects. About 9,000 years ago, people started to make little figures from clay.  We don’t know exactly what the reason was for them to create these figures, it could be related to beliefs, or some kind of protection from unknown, but they did what their hearts were telling them. They did not create to make a profit with them. It must have been something bigger, more important. They were the first objects made that were similar to themselves, a human figure.

A number of goddesses were created.  These goddesses were symbols of life, continuity, nature, fertility, productivity. There is no other object that has been so effective as these goddesses. A woman they chose, something that was productive as the nature they have been observing.  

There has always been a figure in the origins of stories and beliefs that are based on facts. Figure is one of the first instinctive forms of art. I chose to sculpt the figure maybe because of the same reasons as those prehistoric people.  There is so many random stories the human figure offers. So they have been pretty much the only source of my work.  The human figure already beautifully designed serves my desire to connect and give in a timeless manner.