Gülay Er

Who is Gülay Er? (1962-Kırklareli)

Gülay Er graduated from the Painting and Graphic Arts Department of Marmara University, Faculty of Education. Since then, she has developed a practice that spans both the educational and applied fields of art. Her experience as a graphic designer has shaped her visual language with a sense of structural discipline, while her years as a painting instructor have cultivated her ability to communicate, share, and regenerate artistic thought. The intersection of these two paths is reflected in her work as a balance between technical mastery and expressive freedom.

Throughout her artistic journey, she has maintained a strong presence not only through individual production but also within collective art communities. As a member of the Bodrum Art Association for Art and Culture, she has continued to deepen these connections. She has opened numerous solo exhibitions and taken part in many group shows, engaging diverse audiences with her works. In her paintings, she blends architectural space, landscape, and portraiture through a lens of abstract realism, creating a sensorial experience that often deepens beyond the visual surface.

In 2019, her painting Metro was selected for exhibition at the prestigious Nuri İyem Painting Award Exhibition.

She continues her artistic practice at her studio located in Kadıköy, Istanbul.

On the Artist – Sedef Antay

“If there’s no color within, don’t go looking for rainbows outside.”

Gülay Er’s artistic practice unfolds as a pursuit to reveal the invisible connections between human presence and architectural space. Rather than dwelling on the surface of reality, her work lingers at its edges. Urban elements, figures, and constructed environments transform on her canvas into atmospheres where memory and time intertwine. In her visual language, space is not merely a backdrop — it becomes a vessel for emotion and thought. The figure, meanwhile, appears and dissolves within these spaces, echoing the way memories shift and reshape over time. Her synthesis of abstraction and figuration invites the viewer into an inner journey, one that is both personal and collective. Er’s paintings search for the voice within silence, the light within shadow, the surface of what is unseen.