Zeynep Tekiner

Zeynep Tekiner, a first-generation Turkish-American, is a New York-based painter. Majoring in Visual and Communication Arts, she received her B.A. at Franklin University in Lugano, Switzerland. After living in Turkey for several years and painting in studios throughout Turkey and New York, she went on to earn her MFA at the New York Academy of Art and has since exhibited her work in several group shows, including Art Miami, Art New York, and Sotheby’s.


Artist Statement

As a painter working with oil and acrylic paints, I am drawn to the tactility of both mediums and incorporate playing and experimenting with the texture of the materials in my work as much as possible. The figures in my paintings, either sitting or reclining, are seemingly at leisure. Placed in vague landscapes, these ambiguous settings could be beaches or lawns, where people tend to enjoy outings together; yet the subjects in these paintings are wrapped in their own thoughts, with a sense of isolation and introspection surrounding them. Recurring themes in my paintings are leisure, isolation and solitude, and ambiguous landscapes.


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