Gökçe Çelikel
Gökçe Çelikel's portraits, which approach hyperrealism with an arm's length distance, express femininity and the states of being a woman with enthusiastic exaggeration; painted faces transform into wild masks. Her paintings convey the mischievous excitement of assuming different costumes with a nostalgic longing for childhood, while expressing the pleasure of transformation, but now the child is an adult. In this play, the artist-model explores the chameleon-like variability of being a woman, the pleasure of assuming various roles, and explores the dizzying diversity of possibilities within the female identity.
After graduating from the Painting Department of Mimar Sinan University Faculty of Fine Arts from Özer Kabaş Studio in 2000, Gökçe Çelikel earned the opportunity to study at Paris Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. In 2005, she successfully graduated with a DNSAP diploma from the studios of Bernard Piffaretti, Slyvie Fanchon, and Figarella. The artist has participated in numerous group exhibitions and held solo exhibitions in various cities such as Paris, Istanbul, and New York.
Some of the exhibitions she participated in include: Jean Michel Alberola's selection "Rococo&co" at Ensba, "La valse" at Zadkine Museum, "Rouge, Rouge" at Galeri Julien Lombrail, "Unsound Reason/Adequate Cause" at Galeri Non, and Laurent Quéhénen's selection "Amours II" at Galeri Héloise.
Her works were featured in the selection of Contemporary Turkish Art at Sotheby's London in 2010 and in the Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian, and Turkish Art auction selections at Christie's Dubai in 2012. In 2023, the artist established her studio in Bodrum Konacık and continues her work between Paris and Bodrum.
