Mehmet Aksoy

Mehmet Aksoy (born 1939) is a Turkish sculptor, called the "Anatolian Michelangelo". His sculptures often contain sensual figurative elements, but he is strongly rooted in a modernist sensibility with strong conceptual and abstract elements in his work. He works primarily in stone but also incorporates other material, fusing metal or differing stones in a single sculpture. He presently resides and works in a studio of his own dramatic design on the outskirts of Istanbul.

Early life

He was born 1939 in Hatay Province, Turkey, a town that is today within Syrian territories. After completing his primary education in Yayladağı in Hatay Province, Tarsus, Mersin and Antalya, he enrolled 1960 in Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts (today Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts) to study painting. Later, Aksoy switched over to sculpture section, where he was educated by Prof. Şadi Çalık between 1961-1967. Following his military service, he served at the same academy as an assistant in 1969-1970. He went in 1970 to London after having received a state-granted scholarship for further studies. Aksoy moved to Germany to study at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, from where he obtained a master's degree in 1977. He returned in 1978 to Turkey and served until 1980 as an instructor at his alma mater.