Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Erhan Us. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Erhan, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
First and foremost, creation is an incredible power. The disciplines I work on are in constant communication with each other. When I imagine the context of a sculpture I’m working on —and the conversations happening around it—, suddenly a caricature emerges. Or when I ponder the rest of a painting [as composition] beyond its frame, it becomes an installation. Perhaps an animation, a stop-motion video that I feel the need to draw into photographs. It’s a process that resembles abstract production after a certain point, yet at the same time, it’s quite different; sometimes I know exactly how the resulting work will look, and sometimes the process is determined by the harmony of time and materials, or even by an intuitive progression. This intuitiveness is like cooking a soup; every piece of information you read, research, or are exposed to eventually helps you in a kind of intuitive production process, like an autopilot, when directed correctly.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
My creative process continues with artworks encompassing sometimes complex, sometimes very simple processes, including photography, video, animation, installation, sculpture, painting, and printmaking. Meanwhile, I’m working on a self—hypnosis video project titled “Extracting the Selves”. Like some of my previous works and exhibitions, it will be available on my YouTube channel when completed.
In addition to this, my fourth book, Overestimation, has recently been published as an open—source, that consists of cartoons this time, instead of previous long columns and detailed illustrations.
Artworks’ physical existence typically revolves around various phenomena, following a linear timeline with minimal change. Cartoons, however, present cases with a clear beginning, process, and end. Therefore, simplifying them into one or two sentences is risky in terms of conveying the message or raising awareness, forming an open composition for the viewer. This also poses the risk that the experience may be either too enjoyable or not enjoyable at all.
Considering the mispositioning possibilities on the American scale [since the context cannot be translated like words, as they are attached to other societal and historical terminologies], it can make a person both hilarious and subject to cancellation simultaneously.
Sometimes, the intention is to use humor as a societal defense mechanism or to make people remember things with a quick poke by rejecting the traditional forms of decorative/fancy visual language in the art world.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Organizational skills involve putting everything in its rightful place, proper classification, maintaining a tidy archive, and ensuring that information is easily accessible from anywhere at any time.
Sociology is a field that must be followed at least at a hobby level to understand human nature and its dark side. Psychology, particularly social psychology, is also crucial for understanding the living environment, individuals’ potential, competition, relationships, and chaos.
Transparency, entails rejecting the hidden agendas of society, promoting openness and sincere intentions in communication.
I’m not entirely sure how necessary it is to make recommendations, as individuals often prefer to remain within their own limitations. However, regarding success, I may clearly state that’s a concept which is often subject to the influence of mass media, constantly changing, and inherently ambiguous to the point where even its definition may be insufficient. Additionally, due to their nature —and the overlapped areas—, not all ideas can be successful at the same. So at least the half of them will fail, and that’s ok.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
As a foreigner who has experienced and studied nearly 30 countries, I’ve struggled with the intolerance of societies. Particularly in an the States where concepts like political correctness, cancel culture, and cultural appropriation have diminished individual and scientific progress, open—mindedness. Due to identity politics and polarized societal traits, individuals are trapped in a space where they cannot escape duality. What sadly guides their decisions and behaviors is not understanding but rather curiosity about how things will appear.
In this context, it’s almost natural for my works and contents to be seen on the edge of a cliff. In conceptual art, where context is of paramount importance, there are situations where the historical, cultural, and scientific foundations diverge. In such cases, the titles and labels of the artworks balance the viewer’s experience. When a society, which listens and sees not to understand but to respond, loses its reading habits and the connection between content and context, incomplete and erroneous interpretations arise, leading to the misunderstanding and cancellation of art, the artist, and the work.
Contact Info:
- Website: erhanus.com
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- Other: Portfolio
Image Credits
Erhan Us
