Union Gallery

Upcoming Show: Recent Paintings by Gulgun Aliriza

February 23 – April 6, 2024
Closing reception: Saturday, April 6 4:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m.

Biophilia Series: Surprise I, oil on canvas, 12”x12”

Biophilia Series: Surprise I, oil on canvas, 12”x12”

Wagner College’s Union Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of recent work by Gulgun Aliriza. In a series of still-life, landscape and portrait paintings and works on paper, Aliriza often combines elements from each category into a single composition.

Aliriza’s paintings are studies in color, surface and geometry that celebrate the beauty of light and form. Her creative process is primarily inspired by direct observation that she then expresses in painterly terms. She explores abstract divisions of the pictorial space, the value structures, and the formal color relationships. The still life arrangements were set up in her studio where she became fascinated with exploring the relationship of objects to one another and to their surrounding space. Some of her landscape paintings are done outdoors from immediate surroundings, but most are completed looking through her studio window as she captures the abstract elements of changing light and shifting colors.

Biophilia Series Surprise II, oil on canvas, 36”x36”

Biophilia Series Surprise II, oil on canvas, 36”x36”

Aliriza’s paintings demonstrate both her respect for the past and her passion for the present. Aliriza’s approach to painting is deeply influenced by the history of painting — from Titian, Poussin, Degas, Piero della Francesca, Morandi, Cezanne, Greek fresco and miniature painters among others. She brings traditional principles of painting into her process with a new perspective

Gulgun Aliriza received her BFA from the State University of New York at Purchase with Summa Cum Laude in 2005 and she received her MFA from Western Connecticut University in 2007, with additional studies in painting and drawing completed at New York Studio School. She is the recipient of several grants and a residency program award. In 2007, she was an artist in residence at the Vermont Studio Center. In 2013 her work was featured in The Power of Place at the Hudson Valley MOCA. Aliriza exhibits regularly in the Northeast and represented by Blue Mountain Gallery in New York City where she has had three solo exhibitions. She is an Adjunct Professor of Drawing at Manhatanville College. Aliriza is a Cypriot-born American painter who lives and works in New York. www.gulgunaliriza.com


Gallery Address:
Union Hall (Main Floor), Wagner College
One Campus Road
Staten Island, NY 10301
Gallery Hours:
Monday-Sunday 11am-6pm
Gallery Director: Jenny Toth
Email: jtoth@wagner.edu
Phone: (718)-420-4132 or (718)-390-3192