Cem Gönül (b. 1993, Istanbul) graduated from the Department of Industrial Product Design in 2017. Throughout university, he worked in different fashion and design-oriented jobs. After his graduation, meeting Erkal Aksoy was a turning point in his life. Erkal, who has a great taste in art and interior design, guided Cem to shape his own artistic journey. While producing his solo works in painting, he also worked for three years as a solo assistant to Haluk Akakçe, one of the most valuable representatives of contemporary art in the world. After these three years of profound significance, she began to present her own works to art lovers. He joined the young artist pool of Sevil Dolmacı, the art gallery that also represented Haluk Akakçe, and took part among the globally important artists in the Golden Hour exhibition held at Bodrum 2024 Ruins Hotel. In the same year, he participated in Art Weeks Istanbul at The Ritz-Carlton and recently Villa...
Cem Gönül (b. 1993, Istanbul) graduated from the Department of Industrial Product Design in 2017. Throughout university, he worked in different fashion and design-oriented jobs. After his graduation, meeting Erkal Aksoy was a turning point in his life. Erkal, who has a great taste in art and interior design, guided Cem to shape his own artistic journey.
While producing his solo works in painting, he also worked as the solo assistant of Haluk Akakçe, one of the most valuable representatives of contemporary art in the world, for three years. After these three years of profound significance, she began to present her own works to art lovers. He joined the young artist pool of Sevil Dolmacı, the art gallery representing Haluk Akakçe, and took part among the globally important artists in the Golden Hour exhibition held at Bodrum 2024 Ruins Hotel. His works were also exhibited at Art Weeks Istanbul at The Ritz-Carlton in the same year and recently at Dialogue of Sights and Signs at Villa Ipranosyan.
Gönül's works are shaped around three basic elements: colors, figures and geometric shapes.
Color is a dominant element in his art. His care in using appetizing colors takes his artistic practice to another level - a feast for the eyes. He spends hours working, experimenting again and again, mixing different colors until he finds "that right" color for each piece of each of his paintings.
Figures also play an important role in her artistic practice. The years she spent with Haluk Akakçe deepened her perspective on figures. She now works on more than 50 figures almost every day. He lives with them, sometimes talks to them - this is a key detail to understand his world. His figures are entirely from his imagination and each one tells a different story in his art.
The third fundamental element in his art is geometric shapes. He creates a surreal rhythm by combining innocent forms with cosmic and geometric themes. He meticulously studies geometric details and places them in perfect order on the canvas. For this purpose, he develops his own techniques using handmade tools.
It explores the idea that our perceptions are often shaped by our desires, inviting the viewer to explore the space between reality and fantasy.
