Ergin Çavuşoğlu, born in Bulgaria, lives and works in London.

Çavuşoğlu (Bulgaria) studied at the National School of Fine Arts in Sofia, Marmara University (BA) in Istanbul, Goldsmiths College (MA) in London, and the University of Portsmouth (PhD). In 2003 he co-represented Turkey at the 50th Venice Biennale. He was shortlisted for the Beck’s Futures Prize in 2004 and for Artes Mundi 4 in 2010. Çavuşoğlu lives and works in London, where he is Professor of Contemporary Art at Middlesex University.

While widely known for his film, spatial anamorphic drawings and installation works, painting forms a significant strand within Çavuşoğlu’s practice. His figurative paintings and conceptual drawings informed by his classical art training in Bulgaria in the 1980s explore ideas of performativity, place, space, perception and liminality. Through visual structures that reference historicity and shifting perspectives, he employs a range of techniques to construct theatrical and surreal images that foreground the act of looking and the instability of perception.

These works frequently engage with transitional or “in-between” spaces. Painting becomes both a conceptual and analytical tool for investigating how space is organised, navigated and imagined. The works operate as spatial propositions or visual diagrams mapping relationships between architecture, landscape and human movement. His practice often emphasises precision and systematic thinking, reflecting on painting as both medium and method, and as a form of institutional critique.

His works have been presented in numerous exhibitions internationally. Selected solo exhibitions include Desire Lines /Tarot & Chess/ in “Artists’ Film International”, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2020); Which Sun Gazed Down on Your Last Dream?, Rampa, Istanbul (2016); Cinefication (Tarot and Chess), Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerp (2016); Liquid Breeding, YARAT Contemporary Art Space, Baku (2015); Crystal & Flame, PEER, London (2010); Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen (2009); Haunch of Venison, London (2009); and Place after Place, Kunstverein Freiburg (2008).

Group exhibitions include Seeing Is Believing: The Art and Influence of Gérôme, MATHAF, Doha (2024); Love Songs: Photography and Intimacy, ICP, New York (2023); The Futureless Memory, Kunsthaus Hamburg (2020); But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Milano (2018); On Anam? Where are we going?, Es Baluard Museu d’Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma (2018); Your Story! Geschichten von Flucht und Migration, Kunsthalle Emden (2017); But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise, Guggenheim Museum, New York (2016); Artists in Their Time, Istanbul Modern (2015); Manifesta 8, Murcia (2010); All Inclusive – A Tourist World, Schirn Kunsthalle (2008); British Art Show 6 (2005); the 8th Istanbul Biennial (2003) and the 3rd Berlin Biennial (2003).

« I approach painting as a scholarly activity in which each gesture is carefully considered. I am particularly interested in clarifying critical positions in art through interconnected concepts that converge into visual form. These ideas draw on disciplines including literature, philosophy, cinema and the visual arts, and engage with themes such as spontaneity, antiquity, uncanniness and the automatic writing techniques associated with Surrealism.
Literary and philosophical references often inform the conceptual framework of these works. Texts from fiction and non-fiction frequently serve as points of departure for visual structures or conceptual investigations. In this sense, drawing and painting function not only as representational forms but also as reflective and research-based practices examining the cultural, historical and geopolitical contexts shaping contemporary life. The compositions and classical tropes often resemble scenarios, unfolding like cinematographic still frames from a film »

Ergin Çavuşoğlu