Turkish artist captures pop culture through traditional miniature techniques
At first glance, the artwork looks like a classic Ottoman miniature. But up close, scenes pulled from present-day movies, internet memes and pop culture come alive.
Thirty-five-year-old Murat Palta has made a splash in the Turkish art world by imagining how a 16th-century Ottoman miniaturist would depict the world today.
Artists in the Persian, Ottoman and Mughal empires hundreds of years ago perfected what is known as miniature art: highly detailed illustrations that depicted moments in history, sumptuous palace life and scenes from folklore and mythology.
Today, Palta blends traditional miniature techniques with modern themes, creating detailed scenes that juxtapose historical and contemporary elements. By embracing the technology of his time, just as the original miniaturists did, Palta has found a way to keep this centuries-old art form alive and relevant for a new generation. He constructs each element individually on paper and then pulls them together on an iPad like a collage, before reproducing them on canvas.
“No 20-year-old would just sit and think, ‘Let’s inspect miniature art from the 16th century!’ Nobody would do that!” Palta said. “But with my art or style, they have a special interest growing in this field, and it’s a good thing.”
In “The Ides of March,” a 2023 work depicting the year in pop culture, he featured Taylor Swift in her Eras Tour regalia, riding an emissions-spewing mythical creature to symbolize controversy over the carbon emissions of her private jet. In an early 2012 piece, storm troopers dressed as Ottoman janissaries surround a stylized Darth Vader, as he sits to smell a damask rose. This classic pose was often commissioned by Ottoman rulers, in an effort to symbolize their intellectual refinement and appreciation of both moral and physical beauty.
The World’s Durrie Bouscaren spoke to Palta and discussed the revival of miniature art in Istanbul.
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