Painter Seçil Erel has begun a second Master’s degree at the Royal College of Art in London. For an artist with more than 25 years of professional practice behind her, the programme is not a pause in her career but an extension of it, offering a dedicated space for research and renewal while her studios in Istanbul and London continue their work.

Erel’s path into art began in 1996, during her high school years. She went on to study Painting at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul, completing both her undergraduate and Master’s degrees. Her first solo exhibition followed in 2001, and in 2002 one of her works entered the İş Bankası collection after a group exhibition with the bank. Since then she has exhibited in Turkey and internationally and taken part in residencies, workshops and art fairs. Based in London since 2017 and now a British citizen, she was selected for the 253rd Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition in 2021.

For Erel, abstraction is a way of perceiving the world and thinking through existence. Time and space sit at the heart of her practice, while colour, light, layering and texture carry memory, experience and states of being, with belonging and identity as recurring concerns. Her work has moved from the geometric abstraction of early series such as Sistem (System), Geçtiğim Yerler (Places I Have Been) and Kuş Bakışı (Bird’s Eye View), through Ayrı Bir Gerçeklik (A Separate Reality), to the more open, layered and atmospheric works of her UK period, including Evrensel Fragmanlar (Universal Fragments), Olma Hali (Being) and Blossom.

Throughout this evolution, her curiosity and desire to make have remained constant; after 25 years, she still wants to create new paintings. It is this drive that has brought her to the Royal College of Art. Inspired in part by Antony Gormley’s lifelong commitment to learning, she sees the programme as a chance to deepen her practice, develop her visual language and engage with new ideas, as an extension of her professional work rather than a replacement for it.

During her studies, both studios will remain fully active, continuing new paintings, exhibitions, projects, sales and international collaborations. As she enters this new chapter, Erel extends her gratitude to everyone who has been part of her journey, from framers, handlers and transporters to curators, institutions, collectors, colleagues and friends.