SERPİL MAVİ ÜSTÜN

Serpil graduated from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Neş’e Erdok Studio in 2008. She attended Hüsnü Koldaş’s arcaic mosaics, fresco and sigrafito workshop for a further two years. Serpil has been living and working in London since 2016.

"Imagine some of these picturesque scenarios which would come true in daily life as; walking through the city, looking at your cell phone screen, sipping your coffee, blowing out the candles of your birthday cake, receiving flowers etc. Usual contexts thus and so are worthy to be subject of Mavi Ustun’s painting.
The artist dealing with loneliness of the individual of the present-day; makes us confront with the personal stories of her fragile, perturbed, melancholic, heroes and heroines who refer to solitude.
Some of these moments that Serpil dwells on, there are some personal eccentricities, which appear in a passive- aggressive way. Even sometimes the personas of her painting make us think that they are taking a kind of pleasure to procreate drama. They can seem indifferent in a case or atmosphere where they are supposed to take pleasure. In a moment that seems ideal, beautiful or happy they can sabotage it. These heroes, who ruin their own pastel world, reflect the conflicts that we deal with, in our daily routine.
The matter that the artist focuses on her painting is not storytelling; but by focusing on the individual in a fragment from life to reflect their trouble. Mavi Üstün thinks that in the source of this fact resides ‘the agony of the individual’ who has been caught in a trap of existence and surrounded with the means of the social system. Personages of her paintings symbolize the person who fights back and reacts to this circumstance.
While transforming the impressions, fantasies, evocations and images; into a scene of a fleeting moment, she leaves the previous and the future scene to the imagination of the viewer."

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022       Caramel Macchiato, C.A.M. Gallery, Istanbul
2019       Everything Is Ok, One Paved Court, London
2018       Royal Arts Prize Runner-up exhibition, Royal Opera Arcade Gallery-London
2015       Along Yourself, Harmony Art Gallery, Istanbul
2013       Timeless, Harmony Art Gallery, Istanbul

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023      Universe 25, Gillian Jason Gallery, London                                                                                 
                Skin Deep, Studio West, London
                Fetish, MAMA - London 
                Even a Cat can Look at the Queen, Mrs. Gallery- New York,                      
                Dialogue, The Artist Room Gallery- London
2022      Another Round, Galeri Nev
                Mothflower, "Character" Group Show
                Contemporary Istanbul -Bloom , C.A.M Galery, Istanbul
2021       Recto-Verso, C.A.M. Gallery, Istanbul
                Let it be, C.A.M. Gallery, Istanbul
2020      Life, C.A.M. Gallery, Istanbul
                Subsidiary Projects – ROOMS
                Congruence - I Like Your Work Juried Exhibition
2019       Herstory, C.A.M. Gallery, Istanbul
                Step İstanbul ‘19, C.A.M. Gallery, Istanbul
2018       Visualy Literate2 Manier Gallery, London
                KAOS Kingston Artists Open Studios, London
                The Other Art Fair Bristol by Saatchi Art
                The Other Art Fair London “Not 30 %” curated by Kate Bryan, Saatchi Art
                99 Kare, Art On, Istanbul
2017       Affordable Art Fair, Milan
               “Freedom”, HLS Gallery, London
               “Timeless”, HLS Gallery, London
               “Trace”, Mavi Art Studio, London
               “Through the Colours”, HLS Gallery, London
                Le Carrousel d’Louvre Art Fair, Paris
                Royal Arts Prize Exhibition 2017, London
2016       Harmony Art Gallery Christmas Exhibition
                Harmony Art Gallery Summer Exhibition
2015       Harmony Art Gallery Christmas Exhibition
                Harmony Art Gallery Summer Exhibition
2014       Saint Pulcherie Printemps des Artistes Galeri Od’A
2009       Akademililer Art Center
2008       Türk Kalp Vakfı Art Competition
                 Nuri İyem Art Competition Exhibition
                 Art-İst Istanbul Art Fair
2007       Türk Kalp Vakfı Art Competition
                 İpek-Ahmet Merey Art Competition
2006       İpek-Ahmet Merey Art Competition
                 Art-İst Istanbul Art Fair – ( from 2006 to 2016)

PRIZES
Royal Arts Prize IV. Edition (Second place award)

PUBLICATIONS
Art Maze Mag, issue 27, interview with Layla Leiman             
Istanbul Art News, "Picturesque scenarios from everyday life"                                      
Maake Mag, Issue 9.                               
House and Garden, June 2019
Art MazeMag Spring Edition Editorial Selection, 2019
99 Square, Art On 2018
Art MazeMag Summer Edition Curatorial Selection 2018
Art MazeMag Anniversary Edition Curatorial Selection 2017
© 2022. Serpil Mavi Üstün. All rights reserved.