A cage-like sculpture, Pen, by Turkish artist Kemal Tufan is displayed in DIFC Sculpture Park until June. The sculpture with various metal inscriptions was made from stainless steel with a size 325x60x60 cm in 2021. The artist considers a pen not only as an instrument for writing but also as a tool that helps us to record our memories and stories, both personal and collective.
Surprising the visitors every time with his ironic art pieces, Kemal Tufan continues to work in areas such as installation, performance and video; he creates sculptures made using different materials. The artist even has underwater sculptures; the theme of the sea and fish is often traced in his works. “I also have a passion for freedom,” comments the artist, “and the thing that that has given me that feeling of freedom since childhood is the sea.” It is always interesting to try to perceive the multi-layered structure of the artist’s allegorical sculptures.
“The person you call an artist is a person who observes life, a person who looks at it with a different eye; even when walking on the road,” says Kemal Tufan.
Kemal Tufan was born in Silivri in 1962. He graduated from the Department of Sculpture at Mimar Sinan University, Faculty of Fine Arts, after his Industrial Engineering education at Istanbul Technical University.
The Turkish artist has taken part in group and personal exhibitions in Turkey and abroad. His open-air sculptures are located in various cities in 34 different countries. Tufan was the curator of Büyükçekmece between 2002-2014, Yesemek Biennial between 2005-2007, Koru Young Sculpture in 2015 and Brazil Bento Gonçalves International Sculpture in 2016. Kemal Tufan has been teaching as a contracted lecturer at Marmara University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Sculpture, since 2005.
