Robin Şeyhmus Çoban

Biography:
Born in 1997, Diyarbakir, Turkey
2011 Started Diyarbakir Fine Arts High School
2016-2022 Studied at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Sculpture Department and graduated with first place.

Selected Group Exhibitions:
2021 Passers-by, Group Exhibition, Istanbul, Turkey
2019 Tüyap Space Collective, Tüyap, Istanbul, Turkey
2019 Autonomous, Group Sculpture Exhibition, Istanbul, Turkey
2019 Who Are You, Group Exhibition, Istanbul, Turkey
2018 �pek Ahmet Merey Painting-Sculpture Competition Exhibition, Istanbul, Turkey

Awards:
2022 New Discoveries in Sculpture, Honorable Mention, Istanbul, Turkey
2021 State Painting and Sculpture Competition, Exhibition Award, Ankara, Turkey
2020 Art Basel Art Fair Travel Contest, First Prize, Istanbul, Turkey
2019 Turgut Pura Sculpture Competition, Success Award, Istanbul, Turkey
2019 Istanbul Ulus Lions Club “New Quests”, Achievement Award, Istanbul, Turkey

Robin Seyhmus Coban was born in 1997 in Diyarbakir, Turkey. He studied at Diyarbakir Fine Arts High School between 2011-2015. After his graduation, he completed his education at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Sculpture Department, and graduated in 2022 as valedictorian. The artist, who continues his master's education at the same university, lives and works in Istanbul.

Between 2018-2021, before graduating from university, Robin Seyhmus Coban's works were exhibited in various group exhibitions in Istanbul. In addition, the artist received awards in the Turgut Pura Sculpture Competition and Istanbul Ulus Lions Club “New Searches” competition in 2019; First prize in the Art Basel Art Fair Travel Contest in 2020; the Exhibition Award in the State Painting and Sculpture Competition in 2021 and the honorable mention in the “New Discoveries in Sculpture” competition in 2022.

In his works, Robin Seyhmus Coban focuses on the efforts of individuals to adapt, resist and reconcile in the face of the social and political problems of the globalizing world and the pressure of change/transformation brought by modernity. The artist blends his visions on the body with issues such as the difficulties of getting used to this new ecosystem, the compression of the soul that comes with breaking away from social habits and traditions, his helplessness and anxieties in the face of social demands, his personal observations gained during his time in the metropolis where he settled, leaving behind the steppe lands where he was born. The issues of duality and existence created by both internal and external factors are presented in a holistic manner in sculpture compositions, and the transformation of the external factors into an internal problem is reflected by the intertwining of the body and the image. His works with dynamic bodies are further expressions of suppressed emotions. The artist uses various materials such as stone, wood, metal, clay, polyester and paper, which he thinks can best communicate his sculptures. Coban was influenced by artists such as Auguste Rodin, Alberto Giacometti, Egon Schiele, Francis Bacon, Richard Serra, Antony Gormley, and nurtured by the ideas of philosophers such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Michel Foucault.