Simay Keles is an abstract painter based in Hamburg, Germany. Born in Izmir in 1988, she moved to Germany to study IT Management when she was 18. Changing places and traveling through the cultures have always been a part of her life. As a result, she started painting with an urge to build a deep connection with strangers. After visiting The Art Students League of New York in 2019, she decided to take her art practice to the next level. 

Keles is profoundly inspired by her travels, the landscapes, architecture and the colors of the cities she has visited. Highly affected by those, she is racing with her memory while transferring the intensity of the moment to her work. At the end, she is giving back the abstraction of a blurred reality like an impressionist, although her work bears stronger resemblances to that of the abstract expressionists.

Her layered paintings consist of oil and acrylic colors. Without making sketches in advance, the different layers serve as a sketch for the next layer whilst leaving them all partly visible for the viewer. Aiming to keep the naturalness as an aspect within her work, she sometimes leaves unpainted and untouched spots on the raw canvas.

Out of the need to let go of desire for perfection and monotony, she is creating her work with a loose manner whilst changing medium and technique regularly. The visual language of her work changes depending on the series but maintains the harmony, positivity and weightlessness as a constant value.

Her paintings are part of private collections in New York, London, Milan, Istanbul, Izmir, Florida, California, Colorado, Canada, France, Hamburg and many other cities in Germany.