Artist Interview with Secil Erel

ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Please tell us a bit about yourself and your artwork.

First, I want to thank you and the readers. I am a Turkish-British artist based in London, originally from Istanbul, with studios in both cities. My focus is on creating powerful abstract works that bridge reality and the beyond, encouraging viewers to dream, feel, think, and activate their inner creativity. I graduated from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University with both undergraduate and master's degrees in painting. During my studies, I began participating in exhibitions and symposiums. Over more than two decades, I have exhibited in solo and group shows, as well as art fairs in Turkey and internationally, most recently in the UK. Throughout my career, I have lectured, contributed to conferences and symposia, and participated in artist residencies. I’ve published an artist book with the Istanbul Graphic Museum of Arts and produced exhibition monographs for my solo shows at Gallery Zilberman and Gallery Milli Reasurans in Istanbul. Since relocating to London in 2017, I’ve built new collaborations while maintaining strong ties with Istanbul’s art scene. A London Creative Network scholarship supported my studies in artist business development, and being shortlisted for the 253rd Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2021 was a significant endorsement of my work in the UK.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: How has your background shaped your artistic practice?

If I say that I am connected to the world through art, that would be true—there is no doubt. I live my life surrounded by art, culture, and nature.  During my education, I worked consistently to develop my practice. In addition, I dedicated time to reading, researching, attending courses, and participating in art-related symposiums and workshops whenever possible. My focus has always been on learning and engaging with the global art scene, both as an artist and as an art enthusiast.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: How has your creative process changed over the years?

Although my formal art education was rooted in classical European painting, my original works have always been abstract. Abstract art gave me a boundless space, like endless water in which I can swim and breathe simultaneously. Colour, texture, layers, and depth have always been central to my practice. Especially after completing my master’s degree, I began to use geometry as a means of expression within my paintings. I focused on narrative and systemic themes through composition, with spatial and temporal content related to existence. This geometric, abstract language has been a key element in my work for many years. However, with changes in my perception of city life and living, my approach started to transform.  Particularly after settling in London, I moved from depicting the sky or green spaces in parks —areas that replaced the sea and the peace I found in childhood in Kalamış, Istanbul —and with urban transformation disrupting that peace, I found a new sense of tranquillity in London. As my role as an individual, woman, foreigner, and artist evolved, so did my artistic expression. Instead of trying to express myself within fragmented geometric spaces in my paintings, I began creating works where each piece is a self-contained entity. Rather than questioning the state of being, I started producing images that celebrate this condition. Since each painting is interconnected narratively, geometry now reveals itself as a cohesive whole when the paintings are viewed together.  This transformation has turned my abstract works into compositions that resemble interconnected pieces rather than isolated fragments. In particular, through modular arrangements, I began to develop interactive paintings that allow viewers to change the context, space, time, and arrangement, thus altering the overall narrative.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: How has your artwork evolved since you first started making art?

Although I still feel like I’m doing the same as on the first day, my focus has evolved significantly. I remain excited, determined, and focused, but as demonstrated in my Coherence series, I create from a more instinctive place, drawing on the harmony between mind and heart. My artistic process aims to cultivate a more beautiful life and add positive value. Currently, I emphasise harmony between experiences and balance between the mind and heart. I express various emotions by transferring my feelings and observations onto canvases. As a dreamer, I enjoy exploring the unknown future and abstract concepts. During meditative creation, colours and textures emerge harmoniously on their own. Rooted in curiosity and foresight, I seek to establish a connection with pure consciousness that transcends time and space.  Through this process, I aim to shed all identities and embrace my true state of being, opening up new spaces where colours and textures spontaneously harmonise. Colour, light, and layers form the core elements of my work, which becomes a visionary movement capable of inspiring future possibilities. Exploring loss and unconventional solidarity is central to my narrative, as I strive to reshape life. The relationship between individuality and wholeness underscores the role each person plays at the onset of change. Living consciously and creating one’s vision becomes vital, with the present, as opposed to the future, being the greatest challenge of being human. When we let go of complaints and focus on life’s purpose, new possibilities can emerge.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What inspired you to become an artist?

When you know, you know! But there are some moments for me to remember myself and my purpose in life. I discovered my creativity when I was around 9 years old while I was getting bored during the long summer holiday. During one of these holidays, I witnessed the religious ritual of animal sacrifice, which filled me with a deep sense of horror at the act of taking life. Shortly after, during a storm at my family’s summer house, I saw countless (perhaps hundreds or thousands) of starfish washed ashore—each fighting to survive. Their enduring efforts, the calmness I felt, and my admiration for their ways of existence, beauty, and resilience created a profound awareness within me. This dialogue I developed with them formed a different kind of consciousness and opened a door for me towards creativity and establishing a connection with the universe and all living beings.  However, my main epiphany occurred when I was 16, witnessing a moment that profoundly impacted me. Since then, my artistic journey has been rooted in these experiences, leading me to pursue art academically and bringing me to where I am today.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS:  How did you arrive at your style? What can you tell us about your individual style and visual language?

Being from Istanbul represents a unique dialogue between dualities for me. As someone who has absorbed both Eastern mysticism and Western intellect, I believe I've found my path through a unique blend. Moving to England shifted my perspective, allowing me to express myself more freely and consciously in London. My education at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Turkey’s first Fine Arts academy, was significant. However, my curiosity for the contemporary art world led me to distance myself from academia and focus on contemporary and abstract art. Although my work is inspired by nature and culture, I merge these with ideas to produce abstract paintings. There's still much to experience, see, learn, and create.

ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: How do you select your themes?

I find that every theme naturally leads to the next. I need space and regular practice, as everything I experience and observe transforms into art through materials in my studio. My inspirations include what I see, read, my exercise, meditation, and thoughts, which all merge to inspire themes that flow seamlessly. My interests revolve around art, design, philosophy, and science, and I believe that a well-rounded understanding of these areas is essential for an artist.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What has been the most rewarding part of your career as a studio artist?

As a studio artist, I freely explore my creativity, deepen my self-awareness, and interpret the world around me. I enjoy choosing my projects, setting my schedule, and experimenting with different styles. It’s an ongoing learning process that helps refine my artistic vision. Seeing how my work impacts others, through comments, emotions, or connections, is truly rewarding.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: We know you have a big solo show coming up in Mayfair, London at D Contemporary, can you tell us a bit about that?

“Alliance,” which serves as the title of the exhibition, taking place at D Contemporary on Grafton Street in Mayfair, London, from June 3 to 14, 2025. reflects the dualities that create the whole within life and brings together the themes that I have been exploring for a long time. The exhibition also coincides with London Gallery Weekend. In my early years, I explored existence through geometric and unit-based research focused on time, space, and memory. During my journey settling in London, I delved deeper into my inner world and existential questions. My works transformed into atmospheres through visual effects resembling “zoom in, zoom out.” This evolution symbolises physical and spiritual integration, self-reinvention, and change. The concepts of breath and the meaning of existence form the foundation of this series. I create paintings and arrangements where viewers can find personal feelings or thoughts, representing gratitude, peace, flexibility, and determination. In the gallery’s two sections, I will display works emphasising modularity and geometry, symbolising change, alongside pieces where the units themselves are the art.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Please tell us about your latest body of work.

Recently, I’ve focused on themes like Coherence, Alliance, Journey, Infinity, Change, Harmony, and Duality, along with the unity created by duality. My upcoming exhibition at D Contemporary is titled "Alliance," reflecting these ideas. It explores how balance creates a flow that guides the viewer’s journey. I’ve always believed in staying present and flowing. “Alliance” signifies that we live in an interconnected universe where true survival depends on dialogue and connection—a relentless alliance. I prioritise a healthy, conscious life, integrating physical exercise and meditation, which I’ve researched with Dr. Joe Dispenza’s insights. He emphasizes that change begins in the mind: to change, we must think and act beyond our familiar feelings and reinvent ourselves. My work uses colours, textures, and layers to express abstract concepts and aims to explore infinite possibilities of beauty and harmony. As an artist, I act as a bridge between abstract concepts and concrete forms, breaking boundaries and creating connections. My intention is to create art that reflects both content and visual power, embracing rapid change and seeking the most beautiful, ideal possibilities in infinity.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What do you think is the most important aspect of creating successful artwork?  

Success is a relative term, but for me personally, a work of art is successful if it inspires me visually, intellectually, and technically, provoking the drive to enter the studio and continue creating.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Describe your process of creating a new artwork from concept to completion.

It’s all about imagination, visualising a state of mind. As a dedicated artist, I consistently design, take notes, and sketch my works, carrying multiple sketchbooks, even while travelling. This process helps me plan and conceptualise each series. In my paintings, where geometry, proportions, and structure are as vital as colour, texture, and layers, these designs are crucial. Everything opens up to a vibration and flow of energy. Before sleep, upon waking, or during meditation—when space and time dissolve—I reach a state similar to that while painting, engaging in a dialogue with my materials in the moment. I typically develop a series of paintings, completing them together or individually. My oil painting technique, involving multiple layers and large surfaces, is central to my process. If I don’t feel aligned and in the mood, I  pause, study, and wait until I’m ready to continue.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS:  Can you tell us a bit about a few specific pieces you have created that you are particularly proud of? Perhaps the "infinity box" and how that ties into the themes that run through your practice.

When you mentioned your question, my work "Fiction House" came to mind. Created in 2013, it is conceptually closely related to the Infinity Box. This piece is the largest and first modular painting installation I’ve made, exploring transformation, change, possibility, time, space, and modularity through a geometrically resolved plan of my own house. It consists of 55 pieces in correct proportion, but in five different dimensions. (Include image here) You're right—my "Infinity Box" shares a similar idea, especially in theme. It’s an interactive installation titled "A Moment in Probability / In Infinity," composed of hundreds of small canvases, 5x5cm and 10x10cm units. It serves as a meditative and playful space for themes I’ve contemplated for years. By obsessively creating these tiny magnetic paintings, I crafted a new environment within a limited space, allowing them to move and interact on a surface. This process, inspired by colours, has taught me hope, patience, healing, and the importance of perseverance, showing that each new day can bring new possibilities. Through the work, I illustrate how small, singular changes can endlessly reshape the present moment. It invites participants to actively engage as creators, allowing them to experience the power of infinite possibilities together, with the best intentions.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What is your favourite medium to work with? Please tell us a bit about how the medium influences or supports the ideas behind your work.

I'm not fond of shopping, except for art supplies. I enjoy exploring art shops to discover new materials and see what I might add or change. However, I mainly work with oil paints on canvas. Oil feels playful and natural—spending hours mixing colours on my palette, which is essential for initiating a dialogue between my inner world and what I see. It allows me to create a variety of colours and play with layers. Besides brushes, I also use knives, spatulas, and custom-made materials to build up my layers. In addition, my initial love at first sight is pen and pencil drawing. I also enjoy working with watercolours, as I appreciate how they interact and blend with water.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Are there any techniques or materials you would like to learn how to use in the future?

I love learning and improving myself in every way. I see media and techniques as tools to bring my ideas to life. Although I think limitless, I chose to be a painter to create my best work by using painting elements and mediums.  Additionally, I created a painting installation with my works. I now wish to redesign and transform them into a digital, more interactive version to invite active participation. I also aim to collaborate with designers and artists to create something unique by combining our backgrounds.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What themes or topics are you exploring in your current artwork?

I am deeply interested in duality, connection, change, and transformation in life. How can I unlock my maximum potential by renewing myself daily within this rapid flow?

How can I connect with the infinite possibilities of the quantum field beyond known reality? This is the subject that captivates me the most right now.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What do you think is the most important skill a studio artist should have?

In addition to a high level of techniques and knowledge, being innovative, problem solving, decision making, being present and open to making mistakes is are must. Resilience, embracing solitude, patience, determination, and being physically strong as well.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What do you think has been the biggest challenge in your creative career?  

After going through a divorce in 2017, I moved from Istanbul to London with my 5-year-old daughter, two red suitcases, and a roll of paintings. This experience, although overwhelming at first, transformed my vulnerabilities into resilience and prompted an inner journey that has also reflected in my artwork, for which I am grateful today.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What advice would you give to aspiring studio artists?

Dream big, learn and improve yourself, never give up, follow your heart.