Tayyar Özkan, who began his artistic life with comics and illustrations half a century ago, has diversified his production in recent years with acrylic works on canvas. His new exhibition, reflecting the accumulation of this long journey, is meeting art lovers at Galeri Kambur (Bebek, Istanbul).
This exhibition, which brings together the artist's fictional worlds relating to both the past and the future, is a visual summary of Özkan's half-century-long artistic journey.
Tayyar Özkan's artistic career, which began with comics and illustrations half a century ago, has continued with the addition of acrylic works on canvas in the last few years. This new exhibition is, in a sense, a reflection of all this accumulated experience.
The exhibition features the comic book character, CAVEMAN (also known as the Caveman), first created in 1983 and later launched into the global market in 1989 with his New York life. It consists of acrylic paintings on canvas in various sizes, depicting his fictional and fantastical future world. Some of these paintings portray our semi-robot Caveman characters, while others depict the futuristic yet colorful metropolises in which he is presumed to live.
The exhibition will be open to visitors at Galeri Kambur Bebek-Istanbul from January 5, 2026.
Who is Tayyar Özkan?
He was born in 1962 to a family originally from Tunceli. His first drawings were published in local newspapers and magazines between 1976 and 1978. He graduated from the Animation Department of Gazi University’s Faculty of Painting in 1983.
During his student years and beyond, he illustrated numerous children’s books and greeting cards. In later years, he drew for several humor magazines and daily newspapers of the time.
He moved to New York in 1989. In his early years, he created numerous drawings for advertising agencies and well-known textile and fashion companies.
In 1993, his comic strip “World War 3” was published. That same year, his popular comic strip “CAVEMAN” (Caveman) began its run in the prestigious magazine “Heavy Metal,” a series that continues to this day. The first Caveman album was released by NBM in 1997.
In 1994, he drew the 282-page novella La Pacifica, written by Joel Rose and Amos Poe, for Paradox/DC Comics. He later illustrated the four-issue series The Dreaming for Vertigo/DC Comics. His artwork also appeared in each of the series The BIG BOOK OF…, also published by Paradox.
He has published 12 books by Eros Comix. His artwork has also appeared in numerous magazines, including Hustler and Screw in the US, Penthouse Comix in Spain, Blue in Italy, Playhouse in the Netherlands, and Showtime in Germany.
He published four Caveman books under his own publishing house, Caveman Publishing, in New York.
In 1999, his paperback Caveman album, published by 2L PRODUCTION in France, was chosen as the book of the month by the renowned company Fnac. That same year, Caveman wines were released in France. It was later released as an album in Spain in 2001 and 2007, and in the Netherlands in 2006. In Turkey, Caveman has been published in newspapers and magazines such as Yeni Yüzyıl, Radikal, Cumhuriyet, FHM, Esquire, and Av Fest, and has also been published as two separate albums.
Caveman also reached Chinese readers through Guangzhou Daily, China’s third-largest daily newspaper.
He has designed characters for numerous cartoon projects, worked on storyboards and concept art for animation, commercials, and real-life films, and has also directed. He has also produced a work titled Tekno Park, which has been published as a book and published as a daily strip in newspapers.
Caveman also has got published in UK in 2019 and 2021 as a two graphic novels.
He has taught comics, animation, and design at universities in the United States and Turkey for many years, and continues to do so.