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Tuğçe Diri was born in Eskişehir in 1984. She graduated from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in 2010, with a degree from Applied Lithography Atelier and Painting Department. In 2019, she completed her Master's degree from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Painting Department with the thesis "Reflections of Traditional Arts on Contemporary Turkish Painting".
Working in series and using materials such as acrylic / oil paint, charcoal / ink pencil, collage, fabric, yarn, she holds drawing at the beginning of her production practice. Drawing is always at the core of her work. Diri is influenced by a wide range of periods and techniques, from Arte Povera to Surrealism, from the dynamism of Abstract Expressionists to the design and text-painting traditions of Islamic Arts. Exhibiting a synthesisist spirit in her productions, blending the concepts of history, memory, culture and nature with the visual culture based on tradition, Tuğçe Diri collides cultural distinctions and similarities in the context of art and craft on a formal plane.

 

Tuğçe Diri lives and works in Istanbul.

Education 

1997 - 2002

Eskişehir Anatolian Fine Arts High School 

2004 - 2010

Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Painting, B.A. 

Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Print Making 

2013 - 2019

Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Painting, M.F.A. 

2023 - 

Istanbul University, Open and Distance Education Faculty, Cultural Heritage and Tourism

Thesis:

“Reflections of Traditional Arts on Contemporary Turkish Painting”

Publications & Workshops & Artist Residencies & Talks 

2024

‘Underneath The Stones; Moment & Archive’ Exhibition Catalogue, 500 Hard Copies by Anna Laudel Gallery 

Artist Interview with Buket Bal, Artnivo

 

2022

Live Drawing Performance, Vrijhof Culture, University of Twente, Enschede 

AreHolland, 3 Months Artist Residency, Netherlands  

2020

The Stones Tell: Essays on Fragments and Temporal Fractures, Salt Online Study Groups: Workshop By Hera Büyüktaşçıyan 

2018

Artist Talk, Another World, in conversation with Gizem Gedik, Anna Laudel Gallery, İstanbul 

‘Another World’ Exhibition Catalogue, 500 Hard Copies by Anna Laudel Gallery 

 

2017

Open Studio Days, Workshop, İstanbul 

Selected Exhibitions & Fairs
 

2024

Underneath The Stones; Moment & Archive, Anna Laudel Gallery, İstanbul (solo)

 

Zona Maco Art Fair, Anna Laudel Gallery, Mexico

 

ArtShow Gallery Meeting, Anna Laudel Gallery, İstanbul

2023

2022

'Hits Different', Vision Art Platform, İstanbul 

'The Cyclical Nature Of Time', Anna Laudel Gallery, İstanbul 

'Mono-Signs', Anna Laudel Gallery, Düsseldorf (solo)

Contemporary İstanbul, Anna Laudel Gallery, Tersane İstanbul, İstanbul  

Mono-Signs, Residency Exhibition, Vrijhof Culture, Enschede (solo)  

Artweeks Akaretler, Interdisciplinary Art Project, Anna Laudel Gallery, İstanbul 

'A Repertoire of Extinctions', Vision Art Platform, İstanbul, Curated by: Çağrı Saray

 

2021

'Over Again', İstanbul AKM Gallery, İstanbul, Curated by: Haldun Dostoğlu, Gizem Gedik 

 

Contemporary İstanbul, Anna Laudel Gallery, İstanbul  

'Residual Recollection', Simbart Projects, İstanbul 

2020

Step İstanbul, Anna Laudel Gallery, İstanbul 

Contemporary İstanbul, Anna Laudel Gallery, İstanbul  

2019

Art Market II, Anna Laudel Gallery, İstanbul 

Step İstanbul, Anna Laudel Gallery, İstanbul 

‘Housewarming II’, Anna Laudel Gallery, Düsseldorf 

Contemporary İstanbul, Anna Laudel Gallery, İstanbul  

‘A Place I Can Learn’, Group Exhibition, Endless Art Taksim, İstanbul 

2018

‘Another World’, Anna Laudel Gallery, İstanbul (solo) 

Art Market I, Anna Laudel Gallery, İstanbul 

Contemporary İstanbul, Anna Laudel Gallery, İstanbul

 

‘Seeing the Small Picture’, Academician Art Center, İstanbul 

2017

2016

‘21 Ways of Being an Ideal Artist’, Academician Art, İstanbul 

‘Rooms And Walls’, Anna Laudel Contemporary, İstanbul 

Contemporary İstanbul, Anna Laudel Gallery, İstanbul

 

‘Complicated’, Imoga Art Space, Istanbul 

‘Loop’ , Anna Laudel Gallery, İstanbul (solo) 

2011

9. Exhibition of International Art Festival, Monastir, Tunisia Küçükçekmece Municipality Painting Competition Exhibition, Küçükçekmece Cennet Culture

and Art Center, İstanbul 

2010

Artist 2010 Art Fair, TÜYAP Beylikdüzü, İstanbul 

2009

ARTSHOW Gallery Selvin, İstanbul 

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