“Oh Hi” – Ben Senturk’s viral masterpiece

Pop culture has been taking a sharp turn at the intersection of Quirky and Cool – so it should come with little surprise that the medium of illustration has followed suite. Turkish artist Ben Senturk is equipped with a radical eye-and-hand combo – one that lends to his creation of quirky illustrations, such as his latest series titled Oh Hi.

Born in Ederemit, 24-year–old Senturk acquired a keen interest for the fine arts at a young age. Starting out working part-time jobs for several graphic and ad agencies in his Ankara, he then ignited his career by taking the initiative to shoot a ‘CV video’. After gradually becoming a viral success with his video, Ben found work as an art director.

Ben’s series of illustrations pays homage to pop culture icons as well as superheroes, which certainly presents some of the most unlikely of meetings. He describes them as ’some unfortunate coincidence’s’. Other than video games and a couple of not-so-good spoof movies we hardly ever get exposed to the parings of The Terminator and Marty Macfly or Child’s Play’s Chucky and Woody of the Toy Story franchise. Senturk’s work is a clean hybrid that entices a witty and nostalgic breakdown, together with the uncanny of it all. By now I am already picturing the cast of Big Bang Theory wearing their own designer made Oh Hi sweatshirts.

At the age of three, I was wondering if I could be The last son of Krypton, but after I figured that I [wasn’t], and instead of being frustrated the rest of my life, I took the responsibility of the publishing management and the art direction of Star Warsand Umbrella Academy comic books publication in Turkey

Senturk proves that in Art, depicting the ordinary and displaying it in an unordinary fashion often leads to a masterpiece, as presented in the collection of Andy Warhol’s paintings. Senturk produces this simplistic craft exceptionally well and by adding the ingenuity of humour, his illustrations could well turn out to be the next viral masterpiece.

Ben Sentruk works on Adobe illustrator, InDesign, After effects and Premier Pro. He also has a moustache fetish and has been proudly sporting one for eight years.