27_28/98
N E Z I R   K O R K M A Z
 
  For my brother, Halis, and his wife, this incident was not nearly as serious as for the vast majority of those who found themselves suddenly homeless. He came to stay with me and the rest of the family in the three small rooms that I had rented next to the mosque. Ten people shared two rooms with the third set aside as my studio. This little studio saw the birth of many a painting, among them "Nu-11" and "N-12 / The Return of Jesus". I worked on these two paintings fifteen hours a day for 7 months. When they paintings were nearly completed, my eyes were so weak, I thought that I was going blind. Sevim noted my ideas in my notebooks for some time and posed for "Nu-11". In this painting, I first applied technological elements on the body and on the surrounding vegetation. "N-12" represents the coming of Jesus into our age and its apocalyptic change. Happily, the angels are there and can lift him back to the protection of heaven in the nick of time…

My studio at Bagcilar, Caldiran street.
J' In 1977, I painted a 16-sq.-meter decorative panel for the Olcay hotel at Topkapi. The job took three months and during that time, I got to know an Italian couple vacationing at the hotel, Franco and his wife, Maria Grazia. We became close friends and they proposed that I come to Italy with them. Imagine my bewilderment. The idea of traveling in a foreign country fascinated and enticed me, but I spoke no foreign languages and I hadn't done my military service and therefore could not legally leave the country. My Italian friends prolonged their stay long enough to visit Izmir and Ephèse. We spent a marvelous week together.
At the fine arts academy, I made the acquaintance of Professor Devrim ERBIL.
We insisted on seeing my new paintings, "Nu-11" and "N-12".
    I went with Sevim. The professor was waiting for me in his studio with a number of students still in their places. I put the two paintings "Nu-11 " and "N-12 " He approached, he stopped and then walked back a few paces. The same procedure, without a word, was repeated, again and again, for a period of about fifteen minutes. He broke the silence saying, "My friends, I would like you to meet a painter of genius. His name is Nezir Korkmaz. He is neither student nor teacher in our academy. He comes from Tatvan,
is self-taught and his work is irreproachable. Take a close look at "Nu-11", I've never seen anything like it in all hisroir of the art..."

With Prof. Devrim ERBIL
(at my exhibition in Istanbul-1977)
   I was overjoyed to hear these words of praise and not insensitive to the irony of the situation, for this was one of the key members of the commission which had refused me entry to the academy.
   I took out a copy of a volume of reproductions of my works in black and white and poems selected from my notebooks entitled "GOREN KORLER - 1" which I had had published privately at an expense far in excess of my means and offered it to him as a sign of gratitude. It was in fact the only tangible sign of gratitude that I was in a position to offer. I had made them to sell, but sold only two in two years!

My book
(Poetry)

Caldiran street-Ist.
     Professor D. Erbil and I became close friends. My first etchings were printed at the press in his home. He also organized my first exhibition in Istanbul in February, 1977. He wanted to organize an exhibition in Europe with thirty or forty paintings, but I was not yet ready.
    When he became interim president of the National Museum of Contemporary Arts, he proposed to buy my pictures for the museum. The sum permitted for the works of a living painter, however, were so modest that I preferred taking the compliment instead of making the sale.