In Kubilay Mert Ural’s work, uncanniness is a muscle exercised in an obsession with blurring the lines between the familiar and the unfamiliar, the ordinary and the extraordinary, the absurd with the reasonab
In Kubilay Mert Ural’s work, uncanniness is a muscle exercised in an obsession with blurring the lines between the familiar and the unfamiliar, the ordinary and the extraordinary, the absurd with the reasonable. His practice threads painting, sculpture, video, and performance around a highly imaginative stream of consciousness that populates dreamworlds with an array of fascinating characters. The hybridity and elusiveness of his work is a result of a continuous experimentation with different media that not only seeks to access different realms of his imagination, but also to address sociopolitical issues in a visceral and thought-provoking manner.
Central concerns of his work are consumerism, power structures, and societal inequality. Being a keen and empathetic observer, he strives to address injustice and decadence through a bizarre and off-the-wall language which, far from the impression of an apparent sarcasm in its outlandish aesthetics, it seeks to ultimately arise an emotional response.
Kubilay Mert Ural was born and raised in Istanbul and currently lives and works in Amsterdam. He holds a BA in Management of Performing Arts and an MA in Applied Arts from Sandberg Institute. He completed a residency at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten between 2017 and 2018. Recent exhibitions include Pigs and Sheep and Beasts, Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam (2023); Scattered - Hidden Narratives Through Archives, Framer Framed, Amsterdam (2023); Pink Prison (with Afra Eisma), Hotel Maria Kapel, Hoorn (2022); On the Threshold of a Dream, 38CC, Delft (2022); Cheapskate, Ellen de Bruijne PROJECTS, Amsterdam (2019); Earthlings and the Space Problems, PILOT, Istanbul (2018); Meeting the Universe Halfway, KIT Düsseldorf (2018).