Artist Ali Görmez
Lives and works in Berlin
Ali Görmez was born in 1980 in the city of Bielefeld in the province of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He is of Turkish descent and the 6th of 7 children. He has been interested in art since a small child and started by drawing cartoons. Inspired by the works of Keith Haring, James Rizzi and Picasso, his style would be described as Pop Art.
Ali began painting more seriously in 2011 triggered by a desire to see his art not in sketchbooks, but physically hanging on walls for people to enjoy. His first exhibition was held at Gallery Winterfeldt in Berlin in 2013 and by now he was wor- king mostly with oils, acrylics, watercolours and manuscript paper. Recycling different textiles influence the paintings. The combination and contrast inspires the finished result.
Numerous exhibitions have followed and some of his most visible achievements were the commissioned 42m2 mural produced for the Living Levels high rise residential tower in Berlin East Side Gallery and the Neue Horizonte exhibition at the Berlin Waldorf Astoria building. These marked the beginning of a very close working relationship with the Living Bauhaus Art Foundation.
Colour is very important to Ali’s work and the choices of colours used very much reflect his mood during the creative process. The method he uses is one of instant visualisation. He says “I close my eyes and I see a proper artwork comple- ted on canvas. I see the final picture in my mind, I transfer it on canvas!”. He reproduces this vision almost perfectly. There is very little change that happens during the painting process.
One of the most recognisable motifs from Ali’s catalogue are the characters of "The Eddies". They are ambassadors that come from a different planet. “Eddies are peacemakers. They look funny, cute, and they put a smile on your face when you see them. I want the whole world to meet them”. Eddies have a distinct large nose and are recognisable by just having two legs as their limbs. To reach things with just two legs can be difficult. Eddies represent the challenge in moving forward and the need to focus on one thing at a time to reach the desired destination. Many Eddies will be displayed in public places as life size sculptures around Berlin in May 2019.
His other distinctive character is the “Going Quackers” duck. The duck represents Ali, as all of his characters do. The duck has only one eye, again giving the message to focus on one thing at a time.
Ali gets a huge sense of achievement from working with children and immigrants. He sees art as a medicine for them. He promotes a sense of equality and collaboration in his art workshops and removes any element of competition. During these workshops he sees art as a way of communicating to ease their lives. Ali intends to continue producing art for exhibitions and sale of both original and commissioned work and he is diversifying into a range of Pop Art postcards launching in major art museums around Asia and beyond.
Exhibitions / Shows
2013
TRAIN OF THOUGHTS
2014
Eddies, Freddies & Co.
Colors of Görmez
Preview & Review
2015
NEUE HORIZONTE I
Ali Görmez, Gerald
Hüther, Margret Rasfeld, Arno Stern, André
Stern, Erwin
Wagenhofer,
Thomas Stephenson, Marianne Wilhelm, Christoph Sinnen u.v.m.
Moderation: Doris Schretzmayer
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020