From Fırat to RIFO

Meet Fırat İtmeç, a painter and installation artist who has been working out of Izmir since graduating from 9 Eylül University’s Graphic Design department.  Up until 2020 Fırat was happily producing work, painting and creating installations.  Under the titles Middle East Dreamin’ (a duo project, Ortadoğu) and Geleceği Özlediğim Gibi Özleyeceğim Seni Fırat had shows at Merdiven Art Space in Istanbul and Kova Art Space in Ankara, enjoying his art career.  At the arrival of 2020 the world came to a standstill, followed up by the Turkish economic crash. His sweet Aegean coast was getting darker and Fırat had to think of a new way to produce in order to sustain a living. Finding time during the slowdown of corona and through his love of food, he began his deep dive into the ancient art of fish preservation. Learning the techniques of drying, pickling, smoking and salting, he perfected his craft and, being the artist he was, began to create the mythos of Koca Rıfo. Finding similarities between the newly mastered craftsmanship and painting, Fırat found the process to be meditative and his floodgates opened. Along his journey his stars aligned with Cihangir bey, who owns a factory in Izmir with a closed down fish department. For Cihangir bey meeting a young person interested in fish preservation was a rare find, let alone in an art form which is slowly swindling and so he began a partnership based on mentorship and business.  Through this, Rıfo found himself included into a small community of fish preservation enthusiasts, meeting and trading their techniques and experiences.  In a short time Fırat/Rıfo was moving along and found himself knee deep in fish guts with a stench that’s hard to remove, but Koca Rıfo was meant to be. Fırat found himself between his art practice and his fish addiction, but the more he worked the more the two started melding into one and that’s when Viable came in.  As with Rıfo, Viable was also born in 2020 at a time when an art practice was not enough to make a sustainable living.  And like Fırat, Viable was also interested in making products as a means to create an income and separate from the need to sell art.  Seeing art as any production of an artist, Viable recognized the beauty and art of his journey and invited KOCA RIFO to open a shop at YAYA, the art vitrine of Viable.