İLKEЯ ORTAÇ

İlker Ortaç / Drawing archive

Iris Apfel: drawing and available formats

Iris Apfel · İlker Ortaç
Iris Apfel · İlker Ortaç

Looking at the image

Oversized glasses and a necklace organize Apfel’s portrait. Pink, yellow and green echo the circular details.

Traces of drawing, encounters between colors and individual character are central to İlker Ortaç’s portraits and figures. The image can be approached through the way a face or body is constructed, as well as through whom it represents.

From life to creative practice

Originally from Mardin and long based in Kadıköy, Istanbul, İlker Ortaç works across writing and images. His artist statement emphasizes traces, distortions and character over flawless appearances. This work belongs to that broader portfolio.

Read the artist’s biography

From making to presentation

  1. Image source: the drawing is presented through the existing portfolio image or original-artwork record.
  2. Form: color, line, gaze and framing are explored in the visual notes on this page.
  3. Presentation: matching files, prints or objects are shown through separate product guides.

Creative approach

From the studio: a creative reconstruction

A first-person creative reconstruction drawing on the biography and artworks.

I begin by circling the small irregularity that stops me in an image. Rather than explaining the whole thing immediately, I try increasing the weight of that detail. Putting another line beside an overly tidy area feels like letting the image speak again.

Working around Iris Apfel, my attention returns to this detail: Oversized glasses and a necklace organize Apfel’s portrait. Pink, yellow and green echo the circular details. In the next passage, I imagine pulling back anything that weakens that encounter and leaving the areas holding its tension open for longer.

I want to consider the work from a distance for a while, then return to the same small detail. Imagining its different formats side by side, I try to keep the trace that stopped me in the first place.

Products using this drawing

Explore this drawing on different surfaces. Each product guide brings together its format, listed dimensions and shop link, so you can compare how the image is placed as it moves from drawing to object.

Choosing a format

Formats observed for this design: black T-shirt, ceramic mug, desk mat, digital artwork download, laptop sleeve, pillow cover, spiral notebook, tote bag. Digital files, paper reproductions and physical objects are different products. Choose the image first, then the way you want to use it. Printed area and cropping may change between surfaces.

Explore the archive