Istanbul-based Ali Gulec is a graphic artist with a difference. His surreal illustrations are like identikit drawings aiming to prosecute the material arts. Working on the margins of what is possible with his medium, Gulec's forms, figures, and situations are remarkable for their clarity and strength of purpose, and maintain an iconographic intensity that would make any rock band bereft of an album cover salivate with admiration.

Children ride on the back of a truck at a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Marib, Yemen on September 9, 2021. (Photo by Ali Owidha/Reuters)

A tribal fighter loyal to Yemen's government stands in Al Khurais village of Nihm district east of the capital Sanaa January 11, 2016. (Photo by Ali Owidha/Reuters)

1974: American boxer Muhammad Ali, formerly Cassius Clay, strikes an aggressive pose at a press conference on November 29, 1974. (Photo by Harry Dempster/Express/Getty Images); American actor Will Smith at the Royal Premiere of the film Ali in London on December 11, 2001. Smith starred as Muhammad Ali in the film. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images)

An Afghan girl carries washed clothes on her head in Bamiyan, Afghanistan on March 2, 2023. (Photo by Ali Khara/Reuters)

Livestreaming saleswomen sell cars at the Auto Shanghai show, in Shanghai, China on April 19, 2023. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

A father crosses a road with his twin daughters in Shanghai, China September 28, 2018. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)