ILGEN ARZIK
Visual Artist
Based in İstanbul, İlgen Arzık shapes her artistic practice using a range of mediums such as photography, watercolor, and collage. Having a distinctive place in her oeuvre, Arzık’s experimental works utilize and transform analog photography techniques. Drawing inspiration from the fact that many contemporary digital image editing methods have their roots in analog photography, Arzık returns to darkroom practices, and designs her own darkrooms with idiosyncratic approaches. Her education in painting allows Arzık to handle photographic paper as the surface of a canvas. This pictorial way of thinking sometimes leads her to make collages. Through physical and chemical interventions on the photographic surface, Arzık literally makes paintings with photography, and like a canvas painting, her works in photography are unique.
Contact Info
ilgenarzik@gmail.com
Biography
1980, İskenderun. Lives and works in Istanbul.
Education
1998-2002 Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts Painting Department, Istanbul
1994-1998 Istanbul Anatolia Fine Arts High School Painting Department, Istanbul
Solo Exhibitions
2020 Let’s Talk About the Bright Side, Muaf Beyoğlu, Istanbul
2018 A True Story, Bozlu Art Project, Istanbul
Selected Group Exhibitions, Juri Exhibitions, Prizes
2025 Sudan Sebepler, Cendere Art Museum, Istanbul
2025 4th Empower Her Art Forum, Grand Egyptian Museum, Egypt
2025 ‘Nowadays, Everything exists to end in a photograph’ Susan Sontag, ARK Kültür, Istanbul
2025 Shifting Perceptions, Simbart Project, Istanbul
2024 A Bond Inside, Bozlu Art Project, Istanbul
2023 Mediations Biennale, Feshane-i Amire, Istanbul
2023 Borrowed Landscape, Feshane-i Amire, Istanbul
2021 Olumlayan Dünya, Summart gallery, Istanbul
2020 Suyun Taksimi, Maksim art gallery, Istanbul
2019 Esin Keçisi, Galeri Mod, Istanbul
2018 Mad World, Bozlu Art Project, Istanbul
2018 Facial blindness, Bayanyanı Art Project, Istanbul
2017 Sosyomanya, Bozlu Art Project, Istanbul
2016 Editions, Kuad gallery, Istanbul
2015 Mamut Art Project, Istanbul
2014 Middle East, Middle East Technical University, Ankara
2013 Black sea calling, Galerie Ernest HILGER, Vienna
2013 Scientific inquiries, Operation Room gallery, Istanbul
2012 Siyah/White, CDA project, Istanbul
2011 Achievement Award, The 30th Contemporary Artists Exhibition Association of Painting and Sculpture Museums, Akbank, Istanbul
2011 1st International Izmir Art Biennial, Izmir
2010 Liselim, Tophane-i Amire, Istanbul
2009 Achievement Award, The 9th Sefik Bursali Exhibition, Ankara
2008 Achievement Award, 50th year Anatolian Uni. Exhibition, Eskişehir
Residency
2012 Air-Krems, (BLACK SEA CALLING is an artist-in-residence exchange programme between Austria and 9 countries of the Black Sea region), Krems, Austria