CV

Figen Aydıntaşbaş is a Turkish artist from Istanbul.

Over the several decades she has had 25 solo exhibits and participated in group shows in İstanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Berlin, and New York. Aydıntaşbaş primarily uses oil paintings as a medium but she has also done installations, silk screen printing and murals in the past.

Aydintasbas’ paintings channel her interest in the dialogue between people and cities, between buildings and spaces, and the collective mythology that comes out of this interaction. She knows there is a symbiotic relationships between people and cities and is eager to flesh out the contemporary and historic echoes in this ever-evolving cycle. Her work embraces both the accidental and the fictional — the modern and the ancient. She is inspired by the clichés of popular culture, as well as traces of life from the past. That could be a plastic chair next to a Byzantium building or the image of a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Ankara’s new political order. She is interested in the storyteller from the past, especially powerful women who have been overlooked by their contemporaries. Her previous projects include these diverse inspirations, including: a site-specific installation at the former British Police Headquarters at the Pera district in Istanbul; an exhibition that visualized a 1950s short story by the Turkish writer Leyla Erbil; a show dedicated to the re-discovery of early 20th century socialist writer and activist Suat Dervis.

Aydintasbas was a graduate of the legendary workshop of Bedri Rahmi at Istanbul’s Fine Arts Academy and after graduating she has worked as an artist in Istanbul and Izmir. Throughout her career, she has stepped outside the medium of painting and developed projects in a diverse range of media including serigraphy, mixed-media works and installations. She has had 25 solo shows in Turkey’s leading galleries. She lives and works in Istanbul.