He is absolutely always on duty, and that is what marked his artistic name. You probably have seen some of his designs around not only Turkey, but the whole world at this point. I am talking about the street art muralist Emir Aktunç A.K.A Max on Duty.
With a voluminous hair that is definitely a personality trait, Emir started to be called Max by one of his University teachers. The reason is to compare him to an ice cream little lion character known in Turkey. “I was working in my department at the time and anytime he would refer to me, he would say ‘ask Max’ or ‘tell Max’ and that is how this thing started to catch everyone around me”, he tells The Dank Project. “I honestly didn’t pick my artistic name, it came to me itself.”
That is also pretty much how his designer/artistic career began and how it is still going on. Born in Antalya, Turkey's southern Mediterranean region, Max came to Istanbul right after finishing high school. The main goal at that time was to continuously produce paintings or sculptures, but on the moment of picking a career, he decided to go with Product Design. “Honestly I don’t really know why”, he explains between laughs.
That however didn’t stop him at all from producing his paintings as a hobby - and that is how the flow started, right there. At University he met what he calls his first street art mentors: Eskreyn, Nuka and Wicx. Enchanted by what they would produce, he decided he wanted to find his own voice when it comes to art.
“At the time I was a student, I was broke. It is not like I had too much money to invest on a big canvas or paint. My mentor told me to then buy powder paint and start painting on whatever I find. So I started to collect card boards from the side of trash cans, would take home, make a design on it and return it to the same trash where it was found. It is like I customized a piece and gave it back to society as a piece of art now.”
The main idea was to produce and produce until he would find his own style. “When I want to produce anything, my mind goes to create things that are usable for people. That's why I see myself as a designer, not an artist. The idea I came up with to bring a new look to a product through art may come to someone else's mind, and being comfortable about it actually shows my designer identity. What is crystal clear to me now is: what matters is to find your style.”
For 3 full years that is the path he followed: to find his own style. Though he admits it is a constant change, what he first started to design is now different from the characters and colors he tries to combine when producing a piece. His first time on the street however was not as colorful as we see nowadays. “The first time I drew on a wall was over a grey patch with a pen!”
From cardboards to murals
In 2018, Max was invited by Mural Istanbul to assist the Brazilian graffiti artist Arlin on his piece in the Festival. It would be his first experience and a realization of a dream: learning how to make such a glorious big piece as a mural.
“The first time I ever saw a mural in front of me, it warmed my heart so much! It was like: wow, how can one person make such a big monument like this one? From that moment on was my goal to do a mural.”
Without even knowing what was coming ahead of him, he helped Arlin and when the full mural was finished, he would hang around still to see the other artists bringing color to their selected walls. “I was always very curious, so I wanted to see how they make it. I wanted to understand the lifting process and everything involving the process.”
Understanding the lift and helping Mr. Zafer, the operator responsible for bringing the artists up, down, left and right is how Max scored his first ever mural space. “I would help him a lot, but it was genuine. I really wanted to understand the lift machine and process. On the last day at the festival he saw an empty wall that didn’t belong to the festival and in a gratitude act for the help I gave, he let me use the lift for two days.”
“At that point I already knew how to work a lift and how to make a big size mural. On that night I designed what I wanted to paint, collected leftover paints from the Festival and worked extremely hard two days straight on what was my first ever mural.”
Up until now, Max on Duty has collected a total of 8 murals spread in different cities in Turkey. Proud of his own story, Emir is inclusive on affirming how the street art community and their will to always help each other helped him achieve what he is now: a person that lives by and for his own art.
“The graffiti community in Istanbul is big, beautiful and united. We work as a chain. There are so many good artists out there expressing themselves with different styles. You have characters, writing, graffiti itself, the ones that can’t even show their faces because they would be caught by the police and so on. I realized that by going to the street and being welcomed and guided by them.”
When asked what is his next career step, he says that making new projects and more murals is always going to be the next step. “It makes me happy to contribute to the culture in my own country. When I die I hope people see what I’ve done and remember me!”
You can find Max on Duty’s projects and get to know his daily life on his Instagram.
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