{Media Invite: Exclusive Interview and Demonstration of Ebru with Garip Ay}
Visual SG, from 22 July – 31 July 2016 is South East Asia’s signature Visualisation Festival. The Festival profiles data science through its bold emphasis on the visual aesthetics, insights and narratives that reside in data. Envisaged as both a serious study and playful showcase, Visual SG presents a full on visual spectacle of data through the lens of artistic and creative expression. Through its line-up of interactive displays, forums and workshops, Visual SG not only raises awareness of the burgeoning field of big data, it also aims to provoke conversations on the significant role of data analytics in today’s business and societal contexts.
Renowned Turkish Ebru artist, Garip Ay was in town as part of Visual SG and Our Parenting World team caught up with him during his water painting showcase at the Science Centre Singapore. Children and adults alike were in awe with his live demonstrations. What looks so seemingly effortless from Garip lies years of hard work behind it all.
Ebru is a form of Turkish painting on water and sees the transferring of print on paper also known as water marbling, the beautiful interactions between color paints and water determines the creation of no-two-identical art pieces.
Seeing the colors expand and ripple with a dip here and there, it’s really fascinating to know how science and art can come together to create such perfect harmony.
Putting the colors and drawing on water.
After completion, imprinting the drawings on paper.
The kids had a great time getting hands-on!
Fun facts:
On the table laid bottles of paintings which will be mixed with liquid known as ‘Ox Gall’ (yes, you read it right – Bile juices extracted from Ox galls). This magical liquid is the secret behind how the colors will spread in and stick on water smoothly. This liquid also prevents colors from mixing with each other. Are you amazed?
Simple tools but great impact.
The water is no ordinary water, seaweed powder is added into water to increase its viscosity and thicken it so that colors can stick.
Finalized art works for the day after 2 hours of interactions with guests and children!
We sat down with Garip Ay asking him about his inspirations, what he is up to and how it all started. Read on to find out more.
Q: How and where did you pick up Ebru?
A: I happened to pick up this art form as an elective in 2005 when I was attending the Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul. Ebru has attracted me with its laidback and informal style and I fell in love with the flow of it. Things moved on from there and I started implementing Ebru painting styles firstly in the backgrounds of my own artwork as a combination with traditional brush strokes, before moving on to creating full Ebru pieces.
Q: Where do you get your inspirations from?
A: Inspirations are from my everyday life, everything around me. Ebru is a different art form in that you can’t be in full control because you are working with water. This really leads us to think about our lives and how it has been reflected as well. It’s really how we have to always be prepared to embrace the unexpected in life. It’s a channel to link art to my life philosophies.
Q: Do you stick to a particular genre of painting? How difficult (or easy) is it to master Ebru?
There’s no particular genre that I stick to and anything is possible with painting on water. More importantly, as an artist on water, you have to be able to visualize the outcome from the start till the end and to have a storyboard in mind prior. It takes time and practices to understand how the paints work with water, how the colors overlap and expands etc.
Preparations are long and takes 2 to 3 hours before starting on an Ebru painting. Everyone can do Ebru as long as you have some art background. If you already have some painting background etc., you will be able to grasp the techniques easily. Ebru is an art form whereby you can use many other different color mediums to work with on water, creating different reactions.
Q: What kind of messages or emotions do you want to evoke in audiences who see your art?
A: There are no messages or ideologies in my painting. It simply conveys the feelings of the artist at that point of painting. I have been trying to find myself through painting and Ebru is a form of release and gives me a channel for reflection.
Q: Where have you been recently for work?
A: I have been really blessed to be able to visit many countries on tours and experiencing many colorful cultures, Arba, Gulf, USA, India and Europe are some of the places I have been to for projects, showcases etc. Speaking of exhibitions, I don’t really fancy them as my works are more of a motion-interactive kind of art and I prefer capturing the painting processes on video and sharing them on Youtube instead. In Ebru, it’s the process of creation that matters more than the outcome.
Q: Where can we buy your art pieces?
A: I usually keep all my artworks as a form of documentation and I don’t sell any of my art pieces. I love to share my art through Youtube and videos. I started to video because I feel that a picture cannot capture the essence in whole, but rather the process, which is more captivating, especially for Ebru. I pride myself to be more of a video artist.
Q: What’s coming up next for you?
A: Collaborations are coming up. An invitation with Universal Studio and more video creations.
Thank you Garip Ay for taking our interview! We are definitely excited to hear that there are more in the pipeline for him and we can’t wait to see more of his paintings on water creations.
To find out more about Garip Ay and his artworks, please go to:
IG: @garipay
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheArtofebru/featured
Blog: http://garipay.blogspot.sg/
In addition, look out for The Singapore Science Festival which is jointly organised by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and Science Centre Singapore. Singaporeans can look forward to more than 30 activities taking place across the island until 6 August 2016. The Festival is expected to attract around 165,000 visitors.
The Singapore Science Festival 2016 programme includes the following coming events:
2 – 4 August: STAR Lecture: How to Survive in Space, at Caldecott Broadcast Centre
2 – 6 August: one-north Festival, which will feature talks on research, creativity and enterprise, innovation demos, workshops and other activities.
More information about Singapore Science Festival 2016 can be found on the Festival website www.sciencefest.sg.
About The Singapore Science Festival, it is an annual celebration of the latest scientific innovations, new technologies, and cutting-edge research, and engineering, making them relatable and relevant to everyday life. There will be a range of exciting hands-on activities, events, workshops, and guest performances lined up all over Singapore from 15 July to 5 August 2016.
The 2016 edition of the festival, themed “Build Your Smart Future”, aims to spark excitement and curiosity about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), the building blocks of a Smart Nation.
The Festival is jointly organised by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and the Science Centre Singapore. For more information, please go to our website www.sciencefest.sg
* Article brought to you by our guest writer, Jiahui and Our Parenting World Team
Guest Writer: Jiahui is the uptown girl who loves art, photography and making her calories worthy with every indulgence. She writes her own lifestyle, travel blog at www.faithjoyhope.blogspot.com. Follow her foodie and random snaps on Instagram @jeez_jia
