Nilbar Güreş (b. 1977; Istanbul, Turkey)
Nilbar Güreş received a B.A. in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Marmara University, İstanbul, and an M.A. in Painting & Graphics from the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.
Nilbar Güreş’s practice spans photography, video, film, painting, performance, sculpture, installation and mixed media collage on fabric. Güreş’s works depart from biography then swirls around to address larger issues. Güreş is particularly sound to social injustice, gender roles and cultural identity codes – she researches, documents and finds poetic ways to flout conventions in witty figurations.
Some of the major exhibitions Güreş has participated in include “Signs Taken in Wonder”, MAK, Vienna (2013); “Envy, Enmity, Embarrassment”, ARTER, İstanbul (2013); “Rosa Arbeit auf Goldener Strasse”, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Vienna (2012); “Dream and Reality”, İstanbul Museum of Modern Art (2011); “What is Waiting Out There”, 6th Berlin Biennale (2010); “Where Do We Go From Here?”, secession, Vienna (2010); “What Keeps Mankind Kind Alive?”, 11th International İstanbul Biennial (2009); and the travelling exhibition titled “Tactics of Invisibility”, which was exhibited at Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna (2010), TANAS, Berlin (2010-2011), and ARTER, İstanbul (2011). Her solo shows include “Nilbar Güres: Nilbar Wien-Na” at Galerie Martin Janda, Vienna (2013); “Undressing”, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna (2011); “Self-Defloration”, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart (2011); “Nilbar Güreş”, at RAMPA, İstanbul, and at Iniva, London (2010-2011); “Nilbar Güreş: Window Commission 2010″, Rivington Place, London (2010); as well as “Unknown Sports. Indoor Exercises”, at Salzburger Kunstverein (2009). In 2012, Güreş completed a residency at International Studio & Curatorial Program in New York, supported by the Austrian government.
Nilbar Güreş lives and works in Naples, Vienna and Istanbul.
Nilbar Güreş
Waiting for Francis Bacon, 2013
Mixed media on fabric
75 x 72 cm, 29.53 x 28.35 in
Nilbar Güreş
Lovers, 2006-11
Needled fabrics, necklace
80 x 36 x 20 cm, 27.56 x 11.02 x 5.91 in (left)
70 x 28 x 15 cm, 31.5 x 14.17 x 7.87 in (right)
Nilbar Güreş
Self-Defloration (Draft), 2006
Mixed media on fabric
37 x 48 cm, 14.57 x 18.9 inches