Erna Ucar

Artist Statement – Erna Ucar

Erna Ucar was born in Ankara in 1979 and graduated from the Graphic Design Department, Faculty of Fine Arts, Hacettepe University in 2001. Her background in graphic design underpins her painterly approach, where bold form meets tactile depth. After years living across Cyprus, Turkey, Russia, Malaysia, and Luxembourg, she recognized the paradox of modern urban life: shared routines—coffee, apartments, screens—breed both connection and isolation.

The Room Series emerged from these observations, mapping the emotional geography of crowds in compact settings. Ucar’s surfaces are layered with raw canvas, acrylic, graphite, and sand, blending bright, Fauvist-inflected hues with pastel softness. The textured, relief-like fields invite close looking, revealing new figures and moods over time.

Her process is prolonged and meticulous: figures are positioned with a front–back depth ambiguity, creating works that feel simultaneously like large-scale graphic posters and intimate paintings. The resulting compositions pulse with emotional resonance—joy, solitude, resilience, estrangement all coexist.

What anchors her practice is the search for universality within individuality. Each work reflects how people, despit...

Graphic Design School in Fine Arts Faculty in Hacettepe University . Ankara

Exhibitions & Publications
2025 - Affordable Art Fair / London / March
2025 - Tom Cox Gallery - Unity / London / March
2024 - Affordable Art Fair / London / March
2024 - Tom Cox Gallery / London / March
2024 - The Other Art Fair Chicago / April
2024 - The Other Art Fair Los Angeles / April
2023 - The Other Art Fair New York / November
2023 - The Other Art Fair Los Angeles / September
2023 - The Other Art Fair Los Angeles / March
2022 - The Other Art Fair Los Angeles / September
2022 - The Wall Art Gallery Karaköy / Groups Exhibition "On The Wall / Summer" / Istanbul
2022 - The Wall Art Gallery Karaköy / Groups Exhibition "On The Wall" / Istanbul
2021 - Contemporary Art Curator / Collector’s Vision International Art Award / Finalist
2020 - Capsule Book Curatorial Vol:2 / Chemistry Series / Sydney
2019 - Hoxton 253 Gallery Groups Exhibition "Mindfulness" / London
2019 - Bricklane Gallery Abstract Exhibition / London
2019 - Contemporary Art Curator / Online Exhibition
2018 - Sanat Gezgini Gallery / Erna Ucar ‘Chemistry’ Exhibition / Istanbul
2016 - Istanbul Exlibris Society, Exlibris Group Exhibition / Istanbul
2001 - Hacettepe University Fine Art Faculty Exhibition / Ankara
1998 - Hacettepe University Photography Exh...