Simay Keles
(TR)

Simay Keles is a painter. She was born in Izmir, Turkey, in 1988 and moved to Germany at the age of 18 years to continue her studies. Currently, she lives in Hamburg, Germany. In her serial works, she explores nature and the human experience.

Keles is deeply inspired by her travels. She paints what she recognizes and experiences as beautiful and threatened by erosion. Her work moves between figuration and abstraction, depending on the series she is working on. The symbolic elements in her paintings refer to current issues and reflect a particular preoccupation with humanity's fear of the changes we are witnessing in the world and in nature: global warming, the encroachment of human control over geographical space, wars, immigration as a result of wars or climate crises.

Keles creates her two-layered work without preliminary drawings, leaving the first layer visible to the viewer. It is a sculptural approach in which the two layers lead to spatial shifts that create optical illusions and an unfamiliar perception of spaces.

Photo (c) Simay Keles