Akaretler Art Project

Alp Erdem Öz

Born in 1988 in Istanbul, Turkey, Alp Erdem Öz earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2013, followed by an MFA from Pratt Institute. By the use of different paint applications, various speeds and compositional breaks as means of expression, Öz sets up conditions for a narrative. His attempt is to make a painting that is in the state of becoming. He refers to a collection of photographs and found imagery before making any moves. In this sense, all paintings start as representational, but as soon as he starts painting he puts the source aside. The process becomes reactionary. Rags, stencils, squeegee, sanding paper and his hands are as valid tools as brushes and palette knives.

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Ayda Demirci

Ayda Demirci is a painter based in Istanbul. Her practice is shaped by her view of painting as a continuous process of research and discovery. She works to create abstract compositions in her paintings. Her focus is always on painting; she is interested in constructing images and expressions independent of an idea or narrative. Demirci’s paintings are exactly ‘what you see’. Ambidexter has presented her two solo exhibitions, 35 Paintings and Two.

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Ayşe Kırca

Ayşe Kırca graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in acting from New York Film Academy in 2015. Upon graduating she has decided to pursue her career in the fine arts along with acting. Her first exhibition was the “Summer Love” at EkavArt Gallery. As an artist she is telling a story about the point where perception of beauty has come nowadays. Through her monkey figures she emphasizes the phrase “to become a monkey” and plays on the idea of reverse human evolution. She is aiming to bring awareness to the sense of beauty, and the beauty within thyself.

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David Doğan Levi

As a multidisciplinary artist, he graduated from Plastic Arts at Paul Valery University in Montpellier, France, in 2016. During his university years, his fascination with the intersection of philosophy, psychology, and art led him to explore innovative painting techniques using self-made brushes and tools. Back in Istanbul, his homeland, in his studio, he maintains a steadfast focus on painting organic forms and incorporating photography. His work defies easy categorization, residing in the realm between abstract and figurative, as he continues to push the boundaries of artistic expression.

The repetition of the technique he used while preparing this body of work led him to discover new methods, using tools and materials he created himself. In his studio, he remains deeply focused on painting organic forms and producing expressive mono prints. His work resists easy categorization, existing somewhere between abstraction and figuration, as he continues to challenge the limits of artistic expression.

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Ece Özel

Born and raised in Istanbul, Ece Özel studied painting at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. She worked as a fashion stylist for nearly fifteen years and continues to perform as an active DJ around the world.

Her work explores the dynamics between the human body and fragments of life, searching for points where personal memories meet subtle, ambient memory. She is interested in how these traces shape our sense of presence and identity.

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Kaan Walsh

Kaan Walsh is an experimental and street photographer and mixed media artist based in Istanbul and Izmir. After completing his education in International Business in the UK, he continued his studies in Graphic Design in Italy. His work captures the fleeting moments of everyday life using experimental techniques, questioning the boundaries between photography and painting. Drawing inspiration from the streets and overlooked details of life, he offers viewers both personal and universal emotions. His art creates a layered and error-prone process that blends analog and digital techniques. He is currently focused on the Yutugud Studio & Guesthouse project in Urla, which will serve as a space for artists to live, create, and share. He held her first group exhibition (2022) with a video work at Barın Han under the İ me ce Çatısı, followed by a modest photography exhibition in London (2023). He continues to participate in exhibitions in Istanbul in 2025 while focusing on his production in Izmir.

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Mark Hale

Mark Hale was born in Izmir in 1984, studied Printmaking and Graphic Design at Anadolu University, and participated in international exchange programs at Accademia di Belle Arti di Palermo and San Diego State University. He completed his master’s in Animation and Illustration at Prague Academy of Architecture, Art & Design. He has been living in Istanbul since 2012.

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Oğulcan Sürmeli

Oğulcan Sürmeli (b. 1995) graduated with honors from Işık University’s Department of Plastic Arts in 2018. In the same year, he participated in the Akbank Contemporary Artists Prize Exhibition and was featured in the Honor Graduates Exhibition of the Turkish Council of Fine Arts Faculties. As an artist who experiments with guerrilla art methods in public spaces, he aims to break thought patterns embedded in collective memory and the discourses that reinforce them through irony.

Sürmeli conceived his art as an inner realm of thought where honesty is liberated from constraints.

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Selin Uyar

Selin Uyar (b. 1997, Bursa) is an abstract expressionist painter working primarily in oil on canvas. A graduate of Central Saint Martins, her work focuses on movement, transformation, and the structural possibilities of gestural abstraction. Through layered brushstrokes and shifts in composition, she explores the relationship between form, space, and material.

Her paintings emphasize the physicality of paint and process, incorporating simple yet undefinable marks that create a dynamic interplay between control and spontaneity. The use of diaristic titles introduces a textual element, adding context without imposing fixed interpretations.

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Simla İçeli

Simla İçeli was born in Adana, in 2000. She studied Painting and Visual Arts at NABA, Milan. She briefly did an internship as a cultural mediator at Triennale Museum. She participated in various exhibitions such as the graduation show at Otto Zoo, Rea Fair at Fabbrica del Vapore, Troubled Waters by Rea Fair, Ambidextrous Group Show, Istanbul. She then completed a residency; Uncool Artist, New York. She currently works and lives in Istanbul.

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