What does art mean to you? What is the line between being a certified artist and calling yourself an artist? When it comes to such an abstract subject, is there a line to be crossed or not? All those thoughts triggered the beginning of a conversation with Istanbul based artist, Melih Çebi.

Holding a strong and easy to notice identity , full of blank-smiley faces, Melih paints, illustrates, photographs, graffitis and even holds a personal brand of accessories curated by him. But when does an artist's career start? Well, for him it started at the age of 4.

“I used to draw on every surface I could find and make my mom mad as any artistic child would do. Art has always been the strongest way of expression for me, ever since I was very young. When I was around twelve I had a chance to study it, but I was too scared to ruin the best thing in my life with rules, teachers and exams - I was never a big fan of school when young. So I kept drawing as a hobby and pretty much learned everything on my own including some programs that can help me design and illustrate.”

The fear of having his passion as a career continued with him for a moment and in an attempt of feeling more secure with his future, Melih graduated in English Language. The very moment his degree was in hands a realization hit him : this wouldn’t work. “That’s when I noticed I needed to create a job out of what I love doing the most”, affirms.

Owner of such a creative line of work, for about five years he dedicated himself as an Art Director in different Advertising Agencies. However again, after that time, the satisfaction of creating and expressing himself while working was gone.

“I decided to quit because I was never satisfied with what I was doing. I always expected to be super happy with my job, and I knew that painting was the only option to be myself and be genuinely happy. It has always been like that but I was too blind to see it!”

So now, getting back to the first questioning and answering itself: Melih Çebi is an artist - an independent artist. Though painting is his favorite activity, he already held an art exhibition with old thrifted photographs and holds a brand that matches all his aesthetic: Trust Me Baby.

Like all of us, he needed to re-invent himself on his accessories at the very beginning of what we thought to be a short quarantine period, still in 2020. That is how his line of lino print (stamped) t-shirts was born. The first drop happened in March 2020 with what he tells to be his best seller, the Blood Moon T-shirt. “A friend asked me to draw her a Shahmaran for her tattoo and I tried to make my own version of it, a middle-eastern mythical creature that is half woman and half snake. I loved the finished work, so I decided to work more on it and turned that into a handmade lino print t-shirt design. That helped me survive the beginning of the pandemic” tells Melih to The Dank Project.

Trust Me, Baby - create to survive, survive to create

“I decided to go on with my life as an artist but I still needed to provide for myself in a city like Istanbul”, that is how the multi-task artist explained his brand creation - and we all have been there. No matter if you see it on a t-shirt, a wall paint or on randomly painted on a wall in Cihangir, you will recognize his brand with the blank-smiley faces “and the little planet thing whatever you call it.”

“I wanted to create a merchandise brand so that people who like my stuff could at least access a shirt, a necklace or anything to do with my art. It has never been about fashion for me, but the possibility to create pretty much anything with my signature under it. That would also help me buy more canvases and create more paints. I was like ‘trust me baby, this is gonna be your way to survive’. There you go, the name created itself: Trust me Baby.”

Photography, music, feelings, painting, anything and everything could click Melih’s ideas and inspire him to give life to something new. He told The Dank Project his lately inspiration:

“Recently I love the paintings by the New York based Artist, Salman Toor from Pakistan. Lately I listen to a lot of Molchat Doma, a Belarusian post-punk band. I find myself staring at the amazing photographs by the clothing brand, Loverboy.”

What about from his own creation, you are probably thinking? “I think right now my favorite piece is my latest one called ‘One Last Dance’”, he answers.

You can find Melih’s personal work on his personal Instagram profile and or on the Trust Me Baby page.

You can also check his curated playlist for Store Désolé on The Dank Project.