Tale or Truth?

Su Alara Acerol

Su Alara Acerol is an archaeologist, art historian and a painter. She graduated from Bilkent University Archaeology and History of Art Department with a full scholarship, she later finished her MA at Koç University Department of Archaeology and History of Art (formerly Anatolian Civilizations and Cultural Heritage Management) with a full scholarship as well. She worked in rescue excavations in different parts of the World. In 2015 she entered Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Painting Department for her second BA. In 2019 she graduated as valedictorian and received first place award from Sakıp Sabancı Art Awards. Since then she has joined many group exhibitions and received several art awards. Her paintings and engravings are in numerous private collections as well as in the Cyprus Modern Art Museum’s collection. She opened her first solo exhibition at Istanbul Concept Gallery in October 2020. She is opening her second solo exhibition with Istanbul Concept Gallery in October 2022.

Hayri Ağan

Born in 1983 in Trabzon, the artist graduated from Trabzon Anatolian Fine Arts High School in 2001 and earned a degree in Painting from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in 2005. In 2006, Ağan started working as a research assistant at Mimar Sinan University, Faculty of Fine Arts, and completed his master's degree at the same university in 2008.

Ağan continued his education at the Urbino Academy of Fine Arts in 2010. After returning to Turkey, the artist completed art proficiency program at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Department of Painting in 2016 and has been working as a lecturer at the same university since 2018, where he continues to teach.

The artist, who has participated in more than 100 national and international group exhibitions, has received awards in five different competitions, in addition to participating in numerous symposiums, workshops, and events both domestically and abroad.

Yağızhan Çalışkan

Born in Ankara in 1992, the artist is currently working in Istanbul. After graduating from Ankara Anatolian Fine Arts High School in 2010, he completed his undergraduate education with a full scholarship in Plastic Arts and Painting Department at Yeditepe University, Faculty of Fine Arts. He completed his master's degree at the same university and started his Art Proficiency Doctorate program in the Painting Department at Marmara University in 2019, where he is still continuing his studies. He also works as a research assistant at Yeditepe University.

The young artist examines the relationship between human beings and nature on an existential level. With a multidisciplinary approach, the artist, who works in different production areas, sees human creation as nature's effort to understand itself. In his works, without establishing a relationship between time and space, he questions the sharpness of the artificial-natural distinction of human beings and the dogmatic attitude towards nature that develops from this sharpness.

Hakan Cingöz

Born in 1977, the artist graduated from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Department of Painting in 2004 and attended the Lithography Workshop at the same university between 2005-2008. In 2008, he completed his master's degree at MSGSU Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Painting. In 2004, he won the first prize in the "İpek-Ahmet Merey Painting Competition" and in 2007 he won the "Nuri İyem Painting Award". 

Since 2009, the artist has participated in many solo and group exhibitions and currently lives and works in Istanbul.

Saygun Dura

Saygun Dura, born in 1964, worked as a photographer and photograph director in an advertising agency in the years between 1989 and 1996. Since then, he has been continuing his career as advertising photographer in his own studio. Dura, who has given seminars on advertising and creative ohotography also has given the lectures called "Advertising Photography, Studio and Light Techniques" in many universities such as Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Department of Graphics, Bahçeşehir University Department of Photography, Doğuş University Department of Graphics, İstanbul Technical University Fine Arts Faculty between 2004 and 2014. He curated the book and exhibition called “Deep Sea Illuminators”, worked in the photo shoots of the project called “Do you know Hasankeyf?”. Also took the underwater photographs of a project which is about producing an underground map of the cistern, well and waterways in Topkapı Palace. Many photographs of him which went on the auction have taken part in special collections and museums. Dura, who provides training for underwater photography, is also a diving trainer and did underwater photo shoots and workshops in many parts of the world. Besides national and international awards, he also held personal exhibitions in İstanbul and New York, participated in many group exhibitions and panels, appeared in selection committees.

Andreas Georgiadis

Andreas Georgiadis was born in 1972 in Thessaloniki. He lives and works in Athens. He studied painting under George Rorris, graphic design at the School of Graphic Arts and Artistic Studies in Athens and illustration in Orleans, France. He has had 13 solo art exhibitions in Greece and overseas and received major distinctions. His works have been acquired by museums, public and private collections, and have illustrated books and records. As a set designer he has helped design the B. and E. Goulandris Foundation as well as many exhibitions at the Gennadius Library, the Museum of Cycladic Art, the Benaki Museum and elsewhere. He also works in theatre as a set and costume designer. He heads the art team of Mikri Arktos publications.

Murat Germen

Born in Ankara, in 1965, Murat Germen is an artist using photography as an expression and research tool. He holds a MArch degree from the Massachusetts Institue of Technology, which he attended as a Fullbright scholar and where he received the AIA Henry Adams Gold Medal for academic excellence. He currently works as a proffesor of art, photography and new media at Sabanci Universty in Istanbul, and has contributed articles and photo series on architecture, photography, art and new media to a wide range of magazines and books.

His exhibiting career includes over eighty shows both in Turkey and throughout the world ( United States, Italy, Germany, UK, Mexico, Portugal, Uzbekistan, Greece, Japan, Russia, Iran, India, France, Canada, Bahrain, Korea, Dubai, China, Sweden, Switzerland and Egypt.) Currently represented by art ON Istanbul, ARTITLEDcontemporary (Netherlands / Belgium) and Rosies Gallery (San Francisco), more than three hundred editions of his artworks are in eminent personal collections, and several in those of Istanbul Modern and Proje4L Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art (Istanbul.)

Işıl Gönen

She was born in 1977, Istanbul. Lives and works in Istanbul. After graduating from Istanbul Anatolian Fine Arts High School Painting Department, she graduated from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Painting Department. 

In her paintings, the artist invites the viewer to a journey between dream and reality, woven with the language of dreamlands, ancient sentences extracted from some wells and labyrinths, and symbols glazed in deserts. In this process, where the deep world of the symbolic is combined with the artist's perception of the mythical realms, the work itself produces the artist simultaneously with the production of the artist's work.

Nihal Gündüz

Lives and works in Istanbul. Graduated from the Photography Department of the Fine Arts Faculty at Mimar Sinan University in 1996. Completed her master's degree in Photography at Marmara University in 1999 and then began working professionally in the fields of advertising and fashion. While continuing to work in advertising and fashion, she also teaches Fashion Photography at Yeditepe University's Faculty of Fine Arts.

Gülercan Hacıoğlu

b.1960, Bulgaria. After graduating from the National Art Academy in Sofia, she emigrated to Turkey and earned a master's degree in Fine Arts Painting from Mimar Sinan University. She has also been a mentor to many important contemporary Turkish artists.

Huri Kiriş

Born in 1980 in Istanbul, the artist graduated from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Department of Painting and completed her master's degree and proficiency in art in the same department. Currently living in Istanbul, the artist works as a lecturer at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Department of Painting. 

In her works, the artist presents the concept of "reality" to the viewer in various ways and in a complex order. With each new work, the artist experiences crossing boundaries and grasping the subtleties of perception. In her works, she skilfully reflects the balance between humanity, nature and culture and the unusual, presenting not only concrete spaces but also the temporary dance of life in fauna and flora. At the same time, the artist reveals the fragile and powerful aspects of existence, adding illusions and reflections to her existing repertoire.

Serra Kuşkaya

Serra Kuskaya was born in Istanbul in 1992. After graduating from Istanbul Avni Akyol Anatolian Fİne Arts High School Painting Department, she continued her education at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts Universty Painting Department, and after spending a period of her education at Complutense Universty of Madrid by participating in the Erasmus programme, she complated her undergraduate education in 2015.

She contiues her works in her studio in Fethiye.

In her productions, the artist confronts the nature that has been destroyed by human beings as a result of the destructions created by human beings reflections of inadequacy and helplessness in the effort to adapt. With human waste and artefacts that will take thousands of years to disappear, the ephemerality of our existence and scenes that tell us about the permanence of our traces.

Sema Maşkılı

1980, Edirne. Lives and works in İstanbul, TR. Sema Maşkılı, who completed her undergraduate and graduate education at Mimar Sinan University, Department of Painting, has participated in many group exhibitions held both domestically and internationally since 2001. Since 2006, she has held five solo exhibitions, focusing on the concepts of violence, existence, and ego using the human body in her works and questioning the complexity of human nature through these concepts.

Elena Papadimitriou

She studied at the Faculty of Applied Arts between 1989-1990. Between 1991-1996 Professor P. Tetsis and Professor Ch. She took lessons from Mpotsoglou. Between 1993-1994, St. She completed her education at Carles Fine Arts University.

Yavora Petrova

"100 Sonnets 100 Drawings" is inspired by the poems of Pablo Neruda, whose love poetry won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.

"For me, drawings have their own sound and look of a finished work. Each idea comes from somewhere with its characters, its line, its composition and mood. They came to me with a lot of light, emotion and conciseness," says the artist. For Yavora, the drawing is the door to her world, which she now opens to reveal her feelings generated by Neruda's love lyrics.

The drawing occupies a central place in the work of Yavora Petrova and is the bearer of the stylistic features and philosophy of the artist. She creates numerous graphics based on verses, with which she participated in over than thirty biennials for graphic art worldwide.

Tayfun Pirselimoğlu

Born in Trabzon. Pirselimoğlu graduated from Middle East Technical University after which he went to Vienna and enrolled at Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst where he studied under Professor Wolfgang Hutter, one of the most important names in the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. He also studied engraving under Professor Sigi Schenk.

Pirselimoğlu held various solo and joint exhibitions in Turkey and abroad. His drawings have been published in a number of magazines. He is one of the founders of the independent art initiative ‘Akademie Genius’ where he has conducted workshops and given classes.

Pirselimoğlu wrote and directed the films ‘Innowhereland’, ‘Rıza’, ‘Haze’, ‘Hair’, ‘I’m not Him’, ‘Sideway’ and ‘Kerr’. He was also nominated for an Oscar for the movie 'Kerr'. He is the author of seven novels (‘Tales from the Desert’, ‘The Album of the Lost People’, ‘Melancholy’, ‘Towers of the City’, ‘Kerr’, ‘Barber’, ‘Surveyor’) and three story books (‘Hotel Rooms’, ‘The Newest Lives of Harry Lime or Praise to the Third Man’, ‘The Other Side of the Desert’)

Gabrielle Reeves

Gabrielle Reeves is a multidisciplinary visual artist from Casper, Wyoming. Her work has been showcased in solo exhibitions at The Brinton Museum in Big Horn, Wyoming, The Nicolaysen Art Museum in Casper, Wyoming, The Dahl Arts Center in Rapid City, South Dakota, Zaratan Contemporary in Lisbon, Portugal, and Istanbul Concept Gallery in Istanbul, Turkey. Additionally, her work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including “Kaybolan Suretler / Lost Forms” at Istanbul Concept Gallery, “The Brinton 101” at The Brinton Museum, “Le Printemps des Artistes” at Sainte Pulchérie Fransız Lisesi in Istanbul, Turkey.
Gabrielle’s art is held in several permanent collections, including the Nicolaysen Art Museum, The Guray Museum in Cappadocia, and the University of Wyoming Campus in Laramie, WY. She has been a freelance artist and art instructor in Istanbul, Turkey, since 2014.

Maria Roza

Born in Baku in 1998, lives and works in Ankara. After graduating from the Fine Arts High School of Ankara, she studied at Hacettepe University Painting Department and graduated with a degree. Currently, she is studying in the Master of Fine Arts Program at the same university.

The young artist focuses in her works on the relationship humankind has with animals and with primitivity, and on the structural and functional features of these relations. What she aims for is to make her audience feel the uncanny atmosphere in her works and still provide them with a safe harbour by nesting them in the pleasing harmony and aesthetics of the paintings.

Coşkun Sami

b. Bulgaria, 1973, currently lives and works in Istanbul, Turkey. Graduated of Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, Faculty of Painting, Istanbul (BFA / MFA). Regularly exhibits his work in various group shows, illustrated magazines, poetry books, and theatre posters.

Sami's paintings often incorporate architectural and historical references, while maintaining an affinity for the templates of formalist painting. His limited color palette supports his drawing-based process, making visible an effort towards achieving pictorial and formal values. His work exists in a space floating between the stylistic borders of expression and figuration. Sami frequently borrows forgotten, abandoned architectural spaces from the recent past, exposing the possibilities for the existence of anonymous, depoliticized homogeneous spaces. In some of his recent works, he strips away historicism and allusions, instead incorporating objects, rocks, organic matter, and voids that accompany a horizontally-based perception of time.

Sami's paintings reveal a cynicism towards politics, a characteristic developed from his upbringing. He employs references and motifs of modernity, progress, regress, and the grand narratives of the past. In some of his paintings, he illustrates how the political is reduced to its grotesque dimension, with power struggles, flag-waving, and the reselling of imaginary dreams. His work engages in a hauntology research of its own, exploring how the agendas of contemporary societies are shaped by ghosts of the past.

Yonca Saraçoğlu

Born in Ankara. Graduated from St. Joseph High School, Istanbul. After graduating from State Academy of Fine Arts, Sculpture Department settled in Paris in 1988. Studied at Sorbonne French Language and Civilization Department. Began to study painting, made vocational made ​​trips to various European countries. Returned to Turkey in May 1991. After a happy period of intensive photographing discovered Istanbul and decided to create her own artistic universe. Works in her own studio in Cihangir, Istanbul. Saraçoğlu sees art as an inner transformer, a way of loving life and beings, and a state of resistance. 

Yusuf Şengür

He was born in 1985 in Istanbul. In 2010, he graduated from Mimar Sinan Fine Art University, Departmen of Paiting. His works are included in many private collections, museums and foundation collections.

The artist, who has received a total 11 awards in national cmpetitions, is also an Asistant Professor at Mimar Sinan Fine Art Universty, Department of Painting.

Ümit Ünal

b. 1965, İzmir, TR. Graduated from the Department of Cinema and TV at the Faculty of Fine Arts at 9 Eylül University. The short films he directed before graduation received various awards. Starting from 1999, the artist began working in the cinema-TV industry and continues to do so today.

Ünal is the screenwriter of eight films, including "My Aunt", "My Dreams, My Love, and You". He wrote and directed eight films, including "9", which won numerous awards and was selected as Turkey's nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2003. He also wrote and directed "Anlat Istanbul", "Ara", "Gölgesizler", "Ses", "Nar", and "Sofra Sırları". He has published five books, including a collection of short stories, three novels, and an autobiography.

The versatile artist later demonstrated his talent for painting and participated in many personal and group exhibitions.

Kadir Selçuk Yaşa

Born in Istanbul in 1985, the artist graduated from Mimar Sinan University, Department of Painting and completed his master's degree at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Institute of Social Sciences. 

The artist continues to work and live in Istanbul.