Şinasi Tekman was born in 1933 a village called Yiğitler. As a little boy, he was always keen on transforming instruments into new and creative objects. Tekman took this interest of his into a more professional level when he started to the Teachers College in 1952. He specialized in wood working and ceramics in King Alfred College, England between the years of 1956 and 1958. The training in England helped Tekman to improve the artistic side of his talent. Tekman generally used old objects (that he had found) in his art works and transform such objects into different creations. He used wood, pieces of trees, metal and irons, even the bones of some animals.
More than 200 of Tekman's sculptures created from different materials are in Eastern Mediterranean University. Some of the sculptures are hand carved with precision and are very detailed, on the other hand some are remained unworked just by putting the object on a surface in a creative sense.
The sculptures with different dimensions are products of a rare style in the Northern part of Cyprus. Tekman's slim, long and sometimes engaged body parts resembles the sculptures of the 1900's world renowned Italian sculpture Giacometti. Apart from the human inspired sculptures, the Tekman collection also stores various kinds of sculptures from mask shaped faces of antic cultures to wide range of animal figures or, to completely abstract art works. The most attention-grabbing pieces of the collection are surely the sculptures which are made from animal bones and metals that exhibit a far modern perspective compared to the period they were created. These sculptures resemble the ready sculptures from Dada movement (for example; Marcel Duchamp – Bicycle Wheel, 1913).
The success of Şinasi Tekman comes from his ability to use not only individual materials but also the unconventional materials. The texture of the materials (uneven and smooth surfaces, rusts, burns etc.) used in his art work brings a new meaning to the object and therefore, the audience can find it interesting considering the prior use of the materials and also the creation process of the art work. Choosing not to over work on a material indicates a primitive art perspective. The art work in the collections is a proof that Şinasi Tekman was an exceptional artists for the Turkish Cypriot sculpture and his unique approach shows us that Tekman has a significant role in Turkish art.
