Visit with Gizem Vural

Gizem Vural's works draw inspiration from her walks through Roosevelt Island, where she photographs intriguing details of her surroundings, both natural and man-made. These observations are transformed into densely layered abstract colored pencil compositions that capture the rhythm and movement of her neighborhood. Take a look behind the scenes below, as she prepares to exhibit at Art on Paper.

I have been working with color pencils for a while since I was working as an editorial illustrator earlier in my career for newspaper and magazines. Eventually, I realized I enjoyed telling stories in a more abstract way, which led to my current practice. My work shows how I see the world, and how I filter everything.

Gizem Vural

In a world increasingly crowded with noise, deep nature offers a quiet space to listen to the rhythms of the earth. It invites us to slow down, to listen, to recognize the rustling of leaves, the call of the birds, and hear how they are not separate from music, but music itself. This body of work sits at the threshold between hearing and seeing the melody, and the presence and disappearance of the sound of nature.

Gizem Vural

My work is a mix of systems, and consists of shape, color, and lines overlapping each other as a living and breathing organism that I mirror when I draw on paper or canvas. That’s what I see when I look into the nature, when I look into the nervous systems of living things, when I look at the world and see how everything is connected and changing constantly.

Gizem Vural