Istanbul Gazette News
The English Voice of Turkish News
International Cartoon Contest Comes to Istanbul
July 19, 2010
By: Jason D. Jones
(Photo by Jason D. Jones)
It’s being billed as a “cartoon “ contest, but the artists involved prefer the term “caricature” to describe their artwork. Erdoğan Karayel is the caricaturist and graphic designer behind the DQ International Cartoon Contest 2010, “Europe-Asia Bridge: Istanbul”, a joint venture between his humor magazine, Don Quichotte, and the Şişli Municipality, a district in the heart of Istanbul. The contest is one of the events surrounding the UN’s designation of Istanbul as a European Capitol of Culture for 2010.
Karayel, 54, has been doing caricatures for more than 30 years and to date has received 40 local and international awards for his work. A native of Turkey, Karayel relocated to Germany 9 years ago and started up a monthly humor magazine called Don Quichotte, featuring caricatures from artists all around the world. It was his immersion in a new culture where Turks are not always viewed favorably or understood that inspired him to create the caricature contest. Karayel felt that the two cultures didn’t always communicate well and that the different language was just one reason. He also felt that his art form was the perfect medium for mutual understanding and communication across all language and culture.
“Caricature is universal!”, Karayel explains.
“When the message being conveyed is visual and doesn’t rely on speech balloons and language specific captions, the message can be understood by anyone.” It is this unique attribute that makes caricature popular in newspapers around the world, in the form of “political cartoons”.
Over the years, Karayel has created a network of caricaturists that now boasts more than 2000 members. Many of those in his network are regular contributors to newspapers and magazines and politicians are often the target of their work.
“Politicians hate us. They want to have these pink dreams [about themselves], but we like to meet them with reality”, Karayel says.
Karayel also feels that the work of caricaturists carries great responsibility. When asked whether he supported the Danish cartoonist who drew worldwide attention and threats of death from Islamic extremists for portraying an image of the Prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb as a turban, Karayel replied, “Caricature is an artform that needs freedom. But, artists have to be sensitive to the responsibility they carry.”
Don Quichotte magazine, though originally designed as a monthly publication, is now only published annually and focuses exclusively on the entries he receives for his yearly contest. He also publishes a monthly children’s magazine, “Bizim Çocuklar” (Our Children) and works as a graphic designer, and he says those things consume too much time for him to continue to publish Don Quichotte as a monthly.
Though, like many endeavors, time management is not the most difficult part of his job. “The hardest part of organizing this contest is finding sponsors. I am grateful to Mustafa Sarıgül and the Şişli Municipality for supporting this work.”, Karayel says.
The contest is accepting entries until August 15th via the Don Quichotte website. (www.donquichotte.org) After a preliminary vetting by an international panel of judges, the contestant’s entries will be narrowed down to 100 and temporarily published on the Don Quichotte and Şişli Municipality’s websites. The award ceremony will take place at the Istanbul-Schneidertempel Art Gallery in Istanbul on September 15th, 2010, and will coincide with a panel discussion involving five of the top caricaturists from around the world, as well as an exhibition of the top 100 pieces.
Karayel expects to receive more than 1000 submissions by the deadline. Most, he says, will come in during the last few days of the entry period. “Most caricaturists are procrastinators”, he laughs.
Perhaps. But it appears that Erdoğan Karayel is not one of those to whom he refers.
July 19, 2010
By: Jason D. Jones
(Photo by Jason D. Jones)
It’s being billed as a “cartoon “ contest, but the artists involved prefer the term “caricature” to describe their artwork. Erdoğan Karayel is the caricaturist and graphic designer behind the DQ International Cartoon Contest 2010, “Europe-Asia Bridge: Istanbul”, a joint venture between his humor magazine, Don Quichotte, and the Şişli Municipality, a district in the heart of Istanbul. The contest is one of the events surrounding the UN’s designation of Istanbul as a European Capitol of Culture for 2010.
Karayel, 54, has been doing caricatures for more than 30 years and to date has received 40 local and international awards for his work. A native of Turkey, Karayel relocated to Germany 9 years ago and started up a monthly humor magazine called Don Quichotte, featuring caricatures from artists all around the world. It was his immersion in a new culture where Turks are not always viewed favorably or understood that inspired him to create the caricature contest. Karayel felt that the two cultures didn’t always communicate well and that the different language was just one reason. He also felt that his art form was the perfect medium for mutual understanding and communication across all language and culture.
“Caricature is universal!”, Karayel explains.
“When the message being conveyed is visual and doesn’t rely on speech balloons and language specific captions, the message can be understood by anyone.” It is this unique attribute that makes caricature popular in newspapers around the world, in the form of “political cartoons”.
Over the years, Karayel has created a network of caricaturists that now boasts more than 2000 members. Many of those in his network are regular contributors to newspapers and magazines and politicians are often the target of their work.
“Politicians hate us. They want to have these pink dreams [about themselves], but we like to meet them with reality”, Karayel says.
Karayel also feels that the work of caricaturists carries great responsibility. When asked whether he supported the Danish cartoonist who drew worldwide attention and threats of death from Islamic extremists for portraying an image of the Prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb as a turban, Karayel replied, “Caricature is an artform that needs freedom. But, artists have to be sensitive to the responsibility they carry.”
Don Quichotte magazine, though originally designed as a monthly publication, is now only published annually and focuses exclusively on the entries he receives for his yearly contest. He also publishes a monthly children’s magazine, “Bizim Çocuklar” (Our Children) and works as a graphic designer, and he says those things consume too much time for him to continue to publish Don Quichotte as a monthly.
Though, like many endeavors, time management is not the most difficult part of his job. “The hardest part of organizing this contest is finding sponsors. I am grateful to Mustafa Sarıgül and the Şişli Municipality for supporting this work.”, Karayel says.
The contest is accepting entries until August 15th via the Don Quichotte website. (www.donquichotte.org) After a preliminary vetting by an international panel of judges, the contestant’s entries will be narrowed down to 100 and temporarily published on the Don Quichotte and Şişli Municipality’s websites. The award ceremony will take place at the Istanbul-Schneidertempel Art Gallery in Istanbul on September 15th, 2010, and will coincide with a panel discussion involving five of the top caricaturists from around the world, as well as an exhibition of the top 100 pieces.
Karayel expects to receive more than 1000 submissions by the deadline. Most, he says, will come in during the last few days of the entry period. “Most caricaturists are procrastinators”, he laughs.
Perhaps. But it appears that Erdoğan Karayel is not one of those to whom he refers.