Hamdi Eser

Hamdi Eser (b. 1970, Akdağmadeni, Turkey) is an artist who works in oil on canvas. His recent paintings picture the gecekondu districts on the edge of the city, seen in winter. They show snowy roofs, steep roads and traffic, and the daily rhythms of a shared life. Every work of his on Galeri Soyut's website, dated 2019 to 2026, is oil on canvas.

Gecekonduda Kış (2026) is a solo show of 32 untitled oil paintings, 31 from 2026 and one from 2024. Their sizes run from 30 x 30 cm to 110 x 110 cm. The 2024 canvas sets yellow taxis and blue minibuses on wet asphalt below snowy houses on a steep slope. A 2026 canvas looks down on winding roads, roofs under snow and bare branches. A circular canvas turns rows of houses into a spiral of blue and white snow and red trees. In his statement Eser says he does not want to romanticise the gecekondu or treat it with nostalgia. He reads in it urbanisation, migration, class division and social memory, and asks what makes a city.

Eser studied painting in the Department of Art Education at Gazi University, Gazi Faculty of Education, Ankara (1991 to 1994). He taught art at Sabancı Kız Meslek Lisesi, Suruç (1995 to 1998), and at Tınaztepe İlköğretim Okulu, Bala (1998 to 2009). Since 2010 he has taught at Çankaya Başkent Halk Eğitimi Merkezi. Early solo shows were at the Sosyal Sigortalar Kurumu Sergi Salonu, Ankara (1994), and Mersin Devlet Güzel Sanatlar Galerisi (1996). Later ones were at Ziraat Bankası Kuğulu Sanat Galerisi (2013), Artsan Sanat Galerisi, Ankara (2024), and Galeri Kambur, Istanbul (2024). He showed solo at Doku Sanat Galerisi, Istanbul (2025), and Galeri Soyut, Ankara (2026). He took part in Yeni Aralık at Galeri Soyut (2019 and 2022).