Seçil Erel builds an art bridge between London and Istanbul
Seçil Erel, who has been living and working in London for many years, is a Turkish-born British artist who has a studio in Istanbul in addition to London. She is preparing to bring to life the works produced for the exhibition under the title of “Alliance”, which will be shown for the first time in the artist’s London solo exhibition, at D Contemporary on Grafton Street in Mayfair, London, between 3-15 June 2025, including the London Gallery Weekend, while she continues to work regularly in her studio in Istanbul.
In a lifestyle where two big cities have become a continuation of each other, the idea of “Alliance”, which represents the whole of dualities in life and which also inspired the name of the exhibition, brings together the subjects that Seçil Erel has been working on for a long time and speaks of a very meaningful integration, especially in the series Being/Olma Hali (The State of Being) that she showed at Adas Istanbul last year.
In the early stages of the artist's career, he used geometry and the unit-whole relationship to evaluate his research and questions about existence by focusing on time, space and memory.
However, his journey to settle in London, under difficult conditions and taking risks, from his own lands, had drawn him into a journey of deeply addressing inner world and vital questions. In this context, the units seen in his works have become the paintings themselves, as if the images have been transformed into atmospheres with zoom-in and zoom-out effects, enabling his analytical and creative intelligence to enter into a deep dialogue with spirituality.
As a final word, Seçil Erel said, ' As an artist, I am interested in the intention of the works I produce during production, the atmosphere created by both content and visual power, and the value that the period I am in adds to life. I look for the most ideal and beautiful in eternity in an environment where rapid change and transformation are inevitable.' In addition to her exhibition in London, the artist will continue to meet with her audience in Istanbul and various European countries, especially in Paris, throughout 2025.
In recent months, NHS England and the Eve Appeal Charity have reached out to her, requesting that she produce a special piece of work by the end of 2024 for the ovarian cancer awareness campaign, which is more common among women of Eastern European and Turkish origin . The artist has fulfilled this request with great sincerity. The first event of this campaign, which will last for months, was held in London in the last week of January and will continue in 2025.
In order to further contribute to their beautiful awareness campaign, a limited edition print was produced, a portion of the proceeds of which will be donated to Eve Appeal, and was published in collaboration with White Label Edition, which actively develops solutions for artist and charity collaborations in Europe and America, in addition to the UK.