Yunus Tonkuş was born in 1954 in Zile, Tokat Province, Turkey. From 1973 to 1977, he studied at the Istanbul State School of Applied and Fine Arts (now Marmara University), Department of Ceramics. Yunus Tonkuş travelled to Germany in 1977 to complete his studies at the Stuttgart Academy of Fine Arts Sculpture Department, from which he graduated in 1985. In 1983, he studied sculpture in Carrara, Italy. Yunus Tonkuş taught at the Stuttgart Academy of Fine Arts from 1985 to 1986 and lectured at the Braunschweig Technical University from 1986 to 1991. Yunus Tonkuş has held more than 40 solo exhibitions and numerous group exhibitions. His works can be found at the Stuttgart Academy of Fine Arts, the Municipal Museum of Braunschweig, Akademie Wolfenbüttel in Rheine, the Istanbul State Museum of Painting and Sculpture, as well as in private collections in the United States, France, Japan, Germany, Holland, and Turkey. Today, Yunus Tonkuş continues to work as a freelance sculptor in Istanbul. He is also the owner of Gallery Arte Istanbul in Beyoğlu.