Belkıs Balpınar
About
Belkıs Balpınar
Belkis Balpinar (1941 Eskisehir, Turkey) is a textile specialist, a writer and researcher, and an artist. Graduated from the Textile Department of Istanbul Fine Arts Academy, the former curator at The Turkish and Islamic Museum in Istanbul has been creating textile artworks for the last 25 years, working collaboratively with the same master weavers.
A pioneer in her field, she has overcome traditional rules regarding weaving techniques, iconography and format treatment. Doing so, she has projected an ancient skill into the realm of contemporary art. Her unique visual language combines age- old techniques with contemporary thought and science.
While most of her one-of-a-kind pieces are woven for exhibitions, Belkis Balpinar also undertakes site-specific and special corporate art commissions. She was commissioned to create a piece for the entrance walls of the World Bank Building in Washington DC and the Aramco Center in Dhahran-Saudi Arabia and as well as 80 pieces for the Marmara-Manhattan Hotel in New York and some private commissioners. Some of her works have been displayed at the Modernist Exhibition in New York City and at the Basel Art Fair in Miami by Galleria Nilufar from Milan. Her works also feature in prominent private art collections worldwide including the Al Gore, Bernard Chappard and Miuccia Prada’s.
Balpinar lives and works since 2006 in Bodrum, Turkey.
Selected Exhibitions
2019 Red Sun, 50 Golborne Gallery, London Tapestry, Anna Laudel Gallery, Istanbul Ethan Cohen Gallery, New York
2018 Dokuma-ma / Un-weave, Anna Laudel Gallery, Istanbul
Pop Degil Op, Plato Sanat, Istanbul
2016 Olası Doku-n-malar, Casa dell’Arte, Bodrum
2015 Kare Art Gallery, Istanbul
2013 Mine Art Gallery, Bodrum
2012 Çırağan Palace Kempinsky Art Gallery, Istanbul
2011 La Fontaine Art Center, Bahrain
2010 Krasnye Holmy Gallery, Russia
2009 Ekavart Gallery, Istanbul Gallery 44A, Istanbul
2007 Cankarjev Dom CD Gallery, Ljubljana
2005 Ginza-Fijuya Gallery, Tokyo
2004 Relative Viewpoints, G-Art Art Gallery, Istanbul
2003 Port Art Gallery, Göcek
2002 Turkish – Japan Foundation Cultural Center, Ankara
2000 Galleria Nilufar, Milano
1995 Milli Resurans Art Gallery, Istanbul
1994 Gallery Tarkett, Stockholm
1993 Turquoise Carpet Gallery, New York
1990 Full Circle Gallery, Washington
W.P.A. Gallery, Princeton
Education 1963 Textile, Istanbul Fine Arts Academy
Books
1975 Kilim ve Düz Dokuma Yaygılar, Belkis Balpinar; Istanbul, Turkey 1982 Vakıflar Museum - Flatweaves / Flachgewebe, Belkis Balpinar & Udo Hirsch; Wesel,
Germany 1983 Kilim, Cicim, Zili, Sumak; Turkish Flatweaves, Belkis Balpinar; Istanbul, Turkey 1988 Vakıflar Museum Carpets / Teppiche, Belkis Balpinar & Udo Hirsch; Wesel, Germany 1984 Anatolian Kilims, John Eskenazi, Udo Hirsch, Belkis Balpinar; Milan, Italy 1990 The Goddesses From Anatolia, James Mellaart, Udo Hirsch, Belkis Balpinar; Milan, Italy 1991 100 Kilims, Yanni Petsopoulos & Belkis Balpinar; London, UK 1993 Grande Dea ,E Nostra Signora /Great Goddess and Our Lady, Commune de Prato, Museo
Civico, Alessandro Pasquini, Franco Cardini, Erenduz Ozbayoglu, Marina Montesano, Belkis Balpinar; Prato, Italy 1999 Anatolian Kilims & Radiocarbon Dating, ed; J. Rageth, B. Balpinar, H. Bartels, H. Böhmer,
G. Bonani, U. Hirsch. D. Lantz, D. Peltz, D. Walker; Basel, Switzerland
