ABSTRACT EXPRESSION: Let Your Inner Child Out – Ilos Ilyas Elias Kirkan
“Creating allows me to be curious. Being curious allows me to be more daring. When I dare I can be more playful. When I am playful I am fearless. And when I am fearless an amazing transformative journey begins from within.”
– Ilos Ilyas Elias Kirkan
I find that painting is a form of meditation that gives me inner peace. When I paint, this sense becomes even more profound as it’s rooted in emotions, spontaneity and subconscious expression, allowing me to let go of my desire for control and fully immerse myself in the present moment.
Creating allows me to be curious. Being curious allows me to be more daring. When I dare I can be more playful, and when I’m playful I show no fear. When I’m fearless I can be more explorative. An amazing transformative journey begins from within.
This transformative journey lets my inner child bloom by creating abstracts that don’t require precision or realism, overcoming the perfectionism traits that stop me and so many of my artist friends from creating, and releasing me from my fear of being misunderstood. Instead it invites an emotional intuition and raw honesty, where strokes, forms, shapes and colours become reflections of my unfiltered inner world – a huge freedom. A freedom that doesn’t ask me to represent anything in particular, not perfection, not realism, not even structure. This state of mind is liberating in itself.
This freedom to express without judgment or constraint is healing. This dialogue between my emotions and the canvas, paper or carpet is the purest form of creative healing. The process matters more than the outcome in this journey. My abstracts become a form of active mindfulness, like meditation.
I always feel and tell my friends that painting for me is a meditation. It draws me inwards, slows down my thoughts, the racing of my heart, and encourages self-awareness. Painting for me is more than just creating art, it’s an emotional release, a tool for self-discovery, and a space where the act of creation itself becomes an act of self-care. I always ask viewers of my art to take time with each painting and see where it takes them. It’s not about liking what you see, but the journey it takes you on. A journey through time, space, body and mind.
When I paint I feel a quiet calling from within, especially when my mind is full of thoughts and my spirit seeks grounding. For me, painting isn’t just a creative outlet, it’s a call to let go – to breathe and to simply be. In this state of mind I don’t feel the pressure to create a ‘masterpiece’ as this stops the process for me and many other artists. Painting allows me to lose track of time, and in that timeless space, to reconnect with myself.
People often ask me what I thought about when I painted a piece. My answer is always the same: I don’t know. I create by letting go and allowing the motion, the strokes, the music and the rhythm to take over. Painting is therapeutic, meditative, healing and freeing. It’s where I find peace, stillness.
Artist Bio
Entirely self-taught Danish Kurdish Artist Kirkan, İlyas was born in Turkey in 1972, brought up in Denmark. After living in London for over 18 years, where he started his arts career, he decided to move to Lisbon.
Kirkan has had numerous exhibitions of his abstract layered textured collage based paintings in diverse cities such as London, Lisbon, Copenhagen, Paris, Antwerp, Beirut, Cologne, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Springs, Provincetown and Marco Island.
Kirkan has twice been a part of the JAALA Art Tokyo BIENNALE at the Tokyo Metropolitan Arts Museum and the International Montreal Arts Festival.
Ilos Ilyas Elias Kirkan is one of the artists about to be published in Issue 9 of The Apostrophe on the theme of “Roots”.