Skip to main content

Gülsün Erbil

BIOGRAPHY
Gülsün Erbil (Izmir, 1948) is a painter and artist, recognized as one of the pioneering figures of contemporary Turkish abstract art. She graduated from Istanbul American Girls’ College in 1966 and later got her M.A degree from Mimar Sinan University (State Academy of Fine Arts) in the High Painting Department in 1971. In 1983, she won the British Council Scholarship and moved to England, where she lived until 2003. She took a Master’s degree course in Ceramics at Goldsmiths’ College. 1983-1984, she pursued a Master’s degree in Ceramics at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London, and in 1993-1994, she completed a Master’s degree in Textiles.

 

In 1998, she established Galeri X in New York’s Harlem, followed by another branch in Istanbul’s Beyoglu in 2002. Since 1970, she has been organizing solo and group exhibitions both nationally and internationally, as well as undertaking various art projects. Inspired by the philosophy of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, who lived in the 13th century, and Sufism since 1977, she has demonstrated a pioneering attitude by creating abstract works with the theme of “mystical cycle” using different techniques and materials. The essence of her works lies in the “existence-contradiction and the motion born from it.” In summary, they represent dialectical combinations arising from the effects and reactions of natural and social events in the universe.

 

Although she served as the president of the Istanbul Modern Art Museum Association, which she founded in 2003, and contributed to the opening of many art museums, she was unable to realize the Istanbul Museum of Modern Arts. She has realized the exhibition projects “Ekim Geçidi” (October Parade) till 2023. Her paintings are part of private and public collections in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Egypt, Germany, England, the United States, the Netherlands, and France.

Read more...

Awards

TRT Painting Competition

Ankara, TURKEY

1970

DYO Oil Painting Competition

İzmir, TURKEY

1974

DYO Oil Painting Competition

İzmir, TURKEY

1975

Sheraton Hotel Decoration Competition

In seven different branches. Istanbul, TURKEY

1977

İşbank General Directorate Building

Five separate works. İstanbul, TURKEY

1978

Decoration Competititon Oil Painting

Five separate works. İstanbul, TURKEY

1980

Spirit of London Painting Competition

London, United Kingdom

1984

Mosaic Mural “Joy to the world”

London, United Kingdom

1987

Certificate of “Interestingness”

London, United Kingdom

1999