Haydar Lale

Who is Haydar Lale? (2000-Van)

Haydar Lale (b. 2000, Van) graduated from the Painting Education Department at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University and is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the same university. Focusing on painting in his artistic practice, the artist addresses the primitive nature of human beings, instinctual movements, and the fundamental relationship between humans and nature. His works are shaped around the concept of “primitiveness,” aiming to make visible the repressed aspects of human existence through the body, instinct, and intuition. The artist has participated in various national exhibitions and projects, particularly presenting his work on platforms dedicated to emerging artists.

Art Perspective;
My works focus on the primitive nature of human beings and the repressed forms of this nature in today’s world. Contrary to the modern human tendency to exclude what is “primitive” or “wild,” I approach this condition as the most fundamental structure that makes us human. Basic drives such as eating, drinking, protection, and reproduction constitute the purest and most unchanging layer of human existence. Although contemporary individuals attempt to suppress and transform these drives, the primitive does not disappear; it merely changes form. It reorganizes itself within different sociological, cultural, and technological contexts and continues to exist. Therefore, the primitive is not something that belongs to the past but a reality that still resides within us. In my oil-on-paper works, the surface becomes less a representational field and more a space where impulses leave traces. Animal and nature figures occupy a central place in my works as areas where primitive instincts can be observed in their purest form. At the point where representation through the human figure may become limiting, animals carry the direct and unfiltered expression of instinct.