Serpil Mavi Ustun (b.1979 Turkey )lives and works in London since 2016. She earned her degree from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul, where she also dedicated two years to arcaic mosaics ,fresco and sigrafito workshops.
“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 Ustun 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
2025 Call Me When You Arrive, Galeri Nev, Ankara
2023 No Added Sugar, Long Story Short, New York
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
2024 A Memory Surfaces, Abidin Dino, Galeri Nev 40th Anniversary, Exhibition, Ankara 2024 The Beginning of Memory, Galeri Nev 40th Anniversary Exhibition, Ark Kültür, Istanbul 2024 Transcendence, GATE45, Dubai
2024 Quiet Strom, Long Story Short Paris, Paris
2023 A New Sensation, Marguo Gallery, Paris
2023 Universe 25, Gillian Jason Gallery, London
2023 Skin Deep, Studio West, London
2023 Fetish, MAMA, London
2023 Even a Cat can Look at the Queen, Mrs Gallery, New York 2023 Dialogue, The Artist Room Gallery, London
2022 Another Round, Galeri Nev & Kendi Collection, Istanbul 2022 Mothflower, “Character” Group Show, London
2022 Contemporary Istanbul, Bloom, C.A.M Gallery, Istanbul 2021 Recto – Verso, C.A.M Gallery, Istanbul
2021 Let it be, C.A.M Gallery, Istanbul
2020 Life, C.A.M Gallery, Istanbul
2020 Subsidiary Projects – ROOMS, London
2020 Congruence, I like Your Work Juried Exhibition, London
2018 Visualy Literate2 Manier Gallery, London
2018 KAOS Kingston Artists Open Studios, London
2018 The Other Art Fair Bristol by Saatchi Art, London
2018 The Other Art Fair, London
2018 Not 30 %, curated by Kate Bryan, Saatchi Art, London
2018 99 Kare, Art On, Istanbul
2017 AAF, Milan
2017 Freedom, HLS Gallery, London
2017 Timeless, HLS Gallery, London
2017 Trace, MAS, London
2017 Through the Colours, HLS Gallery, London
2017 Le Carrousel d’Louvre Art Fair, Paris
2017 Royal Arts Prize Exhibition, London
2016 Harmony Art Gallery Christmas Exhibition, Istanbul
2016 Harmory Art Gallery Summer Exhibition, Istanbul
2015 Harmony Art Gallery Christmas Exhibition, Istanbul
2015 Harmory Art Gallery Summer Exhibition, Istanbul
2014 Saint Pulcherie Printemps des Artiste Galeri Od’A, Istanbul
2009 Akademililer Art Center, İstanbul
2008 Nuri İyem Art Competition Exhibition, Evin Sanat Galerisi, Istanbul
2007 ArtIst, Istanbul Art Fair, Istanbul
2006 Ipek – Ahmet Merey Art Competition, Istanbul
2006 ArtIst, Istanbul Art Fair, Istanbul
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