art
Ahmet Kolburan
Ahmet Kolburan was born in 1988 in İzmit, Kocaeli, and graduated from the Painting Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Anadolu University in 2014. The artist continues his practice in Istanbul, focusing on individual and social transformations in his work.
Since 2012, Kolburan has taken part in numerous national and international events, including the International Plastic Arts Festival in Tunisia, the Akçaabat Painting Workshop, and the Artist Istanbul Art Fair. In addition to Art Contact Istanbul and the Bodrum Contemporary Art Fair, he exhibited his works at the ArtAnkara Contemporary Art Fair in 2024, 2025, and 2026. In 2025, he also participated in the ArtNouva Contemporary Art Fair.
The artist has participated in group and joint exhibitions at various galleries such as Aysel Gözübüyük Gallery, Terakki Foundation Art Gallery, and Galeri Soyut. He drew attention with his solo exhibition titled “Döküntü,” held at Kursart Art Gallery in 2016 and at Kuzguncuk Nail Bookstore in 2018. He has also taken part in group exhibitions at Bayan Yanı Gallery and Gala Gallery. Kolburan continues his artistic practice in İstanbul.
Artist Statement
Ahmet Kolburan’s artistic practice is concerned with revealing the traces, layers, and memories concealed beneath the surface. In his work, the canvas becomes a carrier of overlapping temporalities, erased decisions, forgotten images, and unfinished stories. Each layer corresponds to a memory, while each act of scraping becomes an attempt at recollection.
The rabbit figures that appear in his works emerge as forms of fear, intuition, and transformation. They exist like images that have long remained beneath the surface, waiting to become visible.
Within his creative process, the figure is not established as a predetermined form; it is searched for and gradually revealed. Applying paint and removing it, concealing and uncovering, are equally essential parts of the painting. Every mark that appears on the surface continues to exist alongside the layers that remain hidden beneath it. Cracks, incomplete areas, and unfinished forms constitute significant elements of his work. The layered and ever-changing nature of life finds its reflection within these surfaces.
Colors are not used to represent specific objects or conditions. Each color exists as a direct emotional presence within the painting. Weathered surfaces and traces do not point to nostalgia for the past; rather, they suggest the existence of another image, another layer, and another story beneath what is visible.
The works focus on what is in the process of becoming visible rather than what is already seen. A rabbit’s ear can at times become a more powerful image than the entire body, while an empty space may speak more loudly than a figure. Painting is approached as a field of discovery that investigates the traces persisting beneath the visible surface of the world.
