Halil Sercan Tunalı

Biography:
Born in 1983 Kesan (Edirne), Turkey
1997-2001 Antalya Anatolian Fine Arts High School, Painting, Antalya, Turkey
2001-2007 Anadolu University, Faculty of Fine Arts Faculty, Department of Animation, Eskişehir, Turkey
2007-2008 Australian Institute of Commerce and Language, Sydney, Australia
2012 New York Film Academy, Sinematografi ve Film Yapımı, New York, USA
2015 Gobelins, L'école De L'image, Animation Masters, Paris, France

Personal Exhibitions:
2021 A Primitive Space Adventure, Galeri 77, Istanbul, Turkey
2019 Inktober, Mecra, Istanbul, Turkey
2019 Voyage (Yolculuk), KafkaOkur, Konu:Atölye, Istanbul, Turkey

Group Exhibitions:
2020 Mamut Art Project, Istanbul, Turkey
2019 ICAF, Dream Gigs Illustrated, Istanbul, Turkey
2018 Design on Tomtom Street, Istanbul, Turkey
2006 Galata Visibility Project, Video Art “Hospital (Hastane)”, Istanbul, Turkey

Competitions and Festivals:
2015 Tenerife Shorts Film Festival, Spain
2015 19th International Children's Film Festival (ICFF), India
2015 Benicia Film Festival, USA
2015 Schlingel International Film Festival, Germany
2015 “Golden Age” was selected as a finalist at Anadolu Animation Film Festival, Turkey
2015 Selected for the summer school, Gobelins l'école de l'image, France
2014 Official Selection at American Online Film Awards, New York, USA (He was cordially invited to join the Spring Official Selection and in consideration for the Awards Ceremony held in New York in December 2014)
2013 Selected for the Frontier Digital Design Scholarship for Media Design School, Motion Graphic/VFX Degree, New Zealand
2013 One of his projects (Colours) was just featured on characterdesignserved.com and appeared on its front page. USA
2013 Peace's Toys was selected for the official section of FILMETS Badalona Film Festival, Barcelona, Spain
2013 “Happy New Year 2013!” was featured as a daily deviation on Deviantart.com
2012 Sosyopath: Social Lovers was featured on Ads Of The World
2012 Shanghai International Film Festival - MOBILE SIFF, China
2012 18th International Short Film Festival, Leuven, Belgium
2012 Best Animation at 2nd International King Midas Short Film Festival, Turkey
2012 2nd International King Midas Short Film Festival, Animation Category Finalist “Peace's Toys”, Turkey
2012 Scholarship at NewYork Film Academy, New York, USA
2012 2nd Best Animation at Kristal Klaket Competition, Istanbul Turkey
2012 “Peace's Toys” was screened in 58th International Short Film Festival, Oberhausen, Germany
2012 “Peace's Toys” was screened in 5th Kristal Klaket Short Film competition, Turkey
2012 “Peace's Toys” was screened in 8th Akbank Short Film Festival, Istanbul Turkey
2012 “Peace's Toys” 6th “KISADANHİSSE” Short Film Festival, Turkey
2012 “Peace's Toys” was screened in Ascona Film Festival, Hotel Ascona, Switzerland
2012 “Peace's Toys” was successfully registered for the preliminary selection of the Green Competition of GFFIS 2012, Seoul, South Korea
2012 Los Angeles Turkish Film Festival "Special Screening", USA
2012 23rd Ankara International Film Festival, finalist (Animated shorts category), Ankara, Turkey
2012 17th Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video Awards “Jury Recommendation”, China
2012 Ayvalık International Film Festival “National Selection”, Turkey
2011 Featured on motionserved.com, given 2011-12-15
2011 Daily Deviation, given 2011-07-19 on Deviantart.com
2011 1th International Bursa Child Rights Film Festival, Bursa, Turkey
2011 London Turkish Film Festival, London, UK
2011 Istanbul Animation Festival, finalist, Istanbul, Turkey
2011 The project of short animation film called “Baris’s Toys” and supported by The Ministry of Culture in Turkey was completed
2009 His resume confidential was featured in a list called most creative resumes on internet in 2009-10-11
2010 Best Interactive Services Rich media Online ad at Internet Advertising Competition 2010 (Windows Live Messenger Ramadan Emoticons), USA
2010 Daily Deviation, given 2010-01-21 on Deviantart.com
2008 10th Anadolu University Film Festival, Eskişehir, Turkey
2008 Europe Film Festival, Turkey
2008 “Hoppipolla” was shown as a finalist music video, European Summer Festival, Czech Republic
2008 Ankara International Film Festival, Ankara, Turkey
2008 Altın Koza Film Festival, Adana, Turkey
2006 His short film “Hospital” was shown in the Visibility Festival, Istanbul, Turkey


Halil Sercan Tunalı was born in Edirne, Turkey, in 1983. Due to his family’s business conditions, he travelled around Turkey, and had the chance to live in various cities. His studies began as a gifted student when he was accepted to an high school of fine arts in Antalya, in 1997. By the time he was majoring on painting, he attended a drama course in a state institution to widen his art vision. In 2001, he was admitted and ranked third to Anadolu University, Faculty of Fine Arts, to study Animation. During his education, he participated in many official exhibitions, made miscellaneous collaborations, and also worked in a student magazine as an illustrator and writer.

He was appreciated by a well-reputed literature magazine called “Varlık”. He made an animation film for his senior project and it was appreciated and shown by many film festivals both domestic and international. When he graduated from college, he went to Sydney (Australia) both to study, and to participate as a supporter in some projects about character design and animation. He then came back to Turkey to kick his career start. While he was working for many companies, he won a bursary to study Film Making and Cinematography at New York Film Academy in US. Then he moved to New York in 2012. Then he came back to Turkey to keep working in his career. In 2015 he went to study Character Animation at Gobelins, L'école De L'image in Paris, France. After that he moved back to İstanbul and he has been living&working in İstanbul.


Artist Statement:
“This life is a hospital, where every patient clamors to change beds. Some wish to suffer in front of the fireplace, some believe they will get better by the window. I feel I will be happy wherever I am not, and my never-ending quarrel with my soul is this desire to move,” Charles Baudelaire had said, referring to his insatiable soul. The real world is now behind filters which we don’t even realize. Evet serious matters like climate change and global warming are dolled up through filters to look prettier and more impressive. Scenes of war, famine, extinction, even litter become works of art in black-and-white photography. Everything hinges on impressing the viewer. Halil Sercan Tunalı’s lighthearted illustrative language forms the backbone of a more somber look into serious matters: overconsumption in modern society, unhealthy expectations of “beauty”, and the banality of the “real” world whose “reality” is long gone. The works reveal our true nature fueled by ego, greed and pride as we let loose our inner monsters on nature and humanity to pillage and destroy.

The artist, whom we frequently encounter with the effects of minimalism and surrealism in his compositions, tries to be nourished by the effects of expressionism, optic and abstract art. Influenced by artists such as Picasso, Miro and Escher, Halil Sercan Tunalı strives to strengthen the bonds he wants to establish with the audience by creating an alphabet with the symbols he uses in his paintings. Some of these symbols are images which point to many different concepts such as eye figures, fish, doors, windows, tree branches. While trying to diversify the materials he uses as much as possible, he pursues different results at every step with the opportunities provided by new techniques. He uses materials such as graphic pens, ink pens, watercolor and acrylic on paper, glass and wood surfaces. In addition, he gives life to the paintings he has made with an animation that he studied. Experienced in fields such as video art, animation and interactive animation, the artist focuses on how to make the most accurate presentation of a thought. Besides being a finalist in many national and international festivals with his short animation projects, he was also awarded with many of them.

Mamut Art Project, 2020