Hafriyat Art Group and Hakan Gürsoytrak

In the contemporary Turkish painting art, group formations that started with the Republic gradually weakened after the 1960s. In the process from the 1970s to the 1990s, artists have individual outings. It is important to establish the Hafriyat Art Group in such an environment with group awareness, to be a pioneer and to continue its activities for many years. The group, which was founded in 1996 with the collaboration of Mustafa Pancar, Antonio Cosentino and Hakan Gürsoytrak, graduated from M.S.F.A.U., started to form their own existence with the idea and belief that they could design their own exhibitions. In the 1990s, the group succeeded in attracting attention with the successive exhibitions they opened in the Turkish art scene, and in the following years, the group strengthened the 'libertarian' spirit they adopted with the polyphony of interdisciplinary art. Although it is difficult to choose an artist from the group to examine closely, Hakan Gürsoytrak has been an influential figure since the beginning. The artist, who approaches social problems with sensitivity, reveals the difficulties and tragicomic situations faced by the individual in urban life in a unique style. Hakan Gürsoytrak was chosen as the artist to be examined because of his strong sense of community and individual psychology with his works. Keywords: Contemporary Turkish Painting, Hafriyat Art Group, Hakan Gürsoytrak