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Setenay Alpsoy

Image by Patrik Velich

Setenay Alpsoy, who mostly depicts the architectural structures of the city with her artworks in a realistic style, examines the effect of dense and irregular construction on human life. Facades of multiple-story apartment complexes dominant in the texture of highly populated cities, closely stacked concrete buildings, wasting old buildings, and the abandoned old furniture inside them are often depicted in Setenay Alpsoy’s paintings. The artist, who has a newfound focus on facades of concrete buildings and compositions where the sky is barely visible, is influenced by the geometric layout of complex building facades that she observes in the city she lives in. Windows, blinds, curtains, hanging laundry, balconies, air conditioning boxes, satellite dishes, office signs, real estate agency ads, flowers in pots and pets looking out, which are all expressions of the life housed in buildings, are often included in the artist's works. In some of her works, she focuses on the reflections of other buildings, clouds, and lights on the window glasses which emerge at specific times of the day. In recent years, the artist has included ready-made objects such as wooden windows and cast mosaic stones in her works besides her oil paintings, charcoal drawings, engravings and cyanotypes.


Born in 1983, Setenay Alpsoy graduated from Neş’e Erdok Atelier at the Department of Painting at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in 2005. In 2009, she completed her master’s degree at the Painting Department of the Institute of Social Sciences of the same university. In 2019, her works named “IETT Blocks I” and “IETT Blocks II” have been selected to be included in the permanent collection at the One Thousand Museum in Miami, one of the last projects completed by architect Zaha Hadid. Alpsoy’s work titled “Gayrettepe Last Stop” was included in The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 exhibition held in the United Kingdom. The exhibition was shown in different cities of the country for 6 months, starting in London. Alpsoy was among the finalists of the Sustainable Arts Foundation in 2021. She has had six solo exhibitions at EVİN, which she has been working with since 2008, and one solo exhibition at Yaşar Art Gallery in Izmir. Alpsoy participated in many group exhibitions and fairs in Turkey throughout her art career. In 2022, she was one of the artists of the group exhibition “In a Multiple Perspective” curated by Fırat Arapoğlu at YARAT Contemporary Art Space in Baku. In 2023, her solo exhibition "Seen in a New Light" was opened at J/M Gallery in London. Alpsoy, whose works are included in many institutional and private collections, continues her practice at her studio in London.

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