Cem Sonel

Cem Sonel, a multidisciplinary artist, guerrilla street hacker and semi-digital mediator, defines himself as a mathematical observer. The artist, who spends most of his life on the streets, sees the streets as his main production space. Streets are also an important influence in his previous works.

Born in 1985 in Ankara, Sonel graduated from Hacettepe University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Graphic Design with honours in 2004. Sonel's interest in street art, which started at a young age, was realised with the street art collective (KÜF Project), which he co-founded in 2009. The guerrilla street art actions they carried out with the collective were the subject of many news in the mainstream media between 2009-2014. In 2014, he was accepted to Hacettepe University Institute of Fine Arts Sculpture Master's Department.

In 2017, he moved his studio to Darağaç, Izmir, where he continued to work both individually and with the art collective of the neighbourhood. Sonel's works have been exhibited in many national and international organisations such as Berlin Art Week, Contemporary Istanbul, Sònar Festival, 48 Stunden Neukölln. He has organised workshops and led sessions on street art in many universities in Turkey. He also regularly hosts his own workshop sessions. In the mural festivals organised in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, he brought the first semi-digital mural works in the world to the public.

She is still continuing her research on the meeting of new media art with street art.

In 2022, she held her first solo exhibition titled ‘One and Zero Equals Two’ at the Anna Laudel Gallery in Istanbul. Integrating new media and digital art into street art has been the dominant theme in her work. Since 2020, she has been continuing her production in the fields of art and design in her workshop in Ankara.

Education
2014 Hacettepe University, Faculty of Art and Design / Sculpture (MA)
2011 Malvern House Collage London / Foreign Language
2004- 2008 Hacettepe University, Faculty of Art and Design / Graphic Design (Undergraduate)

Solo & Dual Exhibitions
2024 Anna Laudel Gallery, ‘All the Good Memories are Stored’, Dual Exhibition with Ramazan Can, Istanbul, Turkey
2023 Anna Laudel Gallery, ‘Binary’, Düsseldorf, Germany
2022 Anna Laudel Gallery, ‘One and Zero Earns Two’, Istanbul, Turkey

Group Exhibitions
2024 Sketch to Pixel Digital Art Exhibition, Sığınak, Ankara, Turkey.
2023 Istanbul Digital ArtFestival, AKM, Istanbul, Turkey

2023 Nevşehir Culture Road Festival, ‘Digital Art from Sketch to Pixel: Mythsve Cappadocia Edition’, Cappadocia, Nevsehir, Turkey
2023 Beyoğlu Culture Road Festival, Cercle d'Orient Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
2023 Art IstanbulFeshane, ‘Starting from the Middle’, Istanbul Turkey
2023 Upcycle Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
2023 Antalya Culture Road Festival, Antalya, Turkey
2022 Sónar Istanbul, AV Festival,Zorlu PSM, Istanbul, Turkey

2022 48 Stunden Neukölln, Berlin, Germany
2022 Berlin Art Week, Savvy Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
2022 Anna Laudel Gallery, ‘The Cyclical Nature of Time’, Istanbul, Turkey
2022 Sığınak Sanatve Teknoloji, ‘Sketch to Pixel Digital Art’, Ankara, Turkey
2022 Cer Modern, ‘Young Meeting’, Ankara, Turkey
2021 Street Art Festival, ‘Volta Combo’, Izmir, Turkey
2021 Street Art Festival, ‘Mural Izmir’, Izmir, Turkey
2021 Embassy of Germany, ‘Street Art Im Botschaftsgrarten’, Ankara, Turkey
2021 Street Art Festival, ‘Sokaktaki Ankara’, Ankara, Turkey
2021 Street ArtFestival, Çankaya MuralFestival, Ankara, Turkey
2020 Street Art Festival, ‘Mural Izmir’, Izmir, Turkey

2020 Contemporary Art Exhibition in Public Space, ‘Darağaç 5 - Var’, Izmir, Turkey

2019 Hayy Open Space, ‘İyi Saatte Olsunlar’, Izmir, Turkey

2019 Street ArtFestival, Ankara Comic and ArtFestival, Ankara, Turkey
2019 Street Art Festival, Volta, Izmir, Turkey
2019 Contemporary Art Exhibition in Public Space, ‘Darağaç 4- Lüzum’, Izmir, Turkey
2019 Istanbul Comic and ArtFestival, Street ArtFestival, Istanbul, Turkey
2019 Tosca Art & Design, ‘Illustrative’, Ankara, Turkey
2018 Cer Modern, ‘Mekan Atölye’, Ankara, Turkey
2018 Contemporary Art Exhibition in Public Space, ‘Darağaç 3’, Izmir, Turkey
2017 Galeri Çankaya, ‘Mentor’, Ankara, Turkey
2011 Cer Modern, ‘If Nature is Heaven, the City is Hell’, Yaygara Contemporary Art Initiative, Ankara, Turkey

Fairs & Biennials
2025 Investec Cape Town, Anna Laudel Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2024 SPARK ArtFair Vienna, Anna Laudel Gallery, Vienna, Austria

2024 Artshow, Anna Laudel Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2024 Positions Berlin, Anna Laudel Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2024 ContemporaryIstanbul, Anna Laudel Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2024 9th Çanakkale Biennial, Çanakkale, Turkey

2023 Art Cologne, dual exhibition with Ramazan Can, Anna Laudel Gallery, Cologne, Germany
2023 ContemporaryIstanbul Bloom, Anna Laudel Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2023 ContemporaryIstanbul, Anna Laudel Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2022 ContemporaryIstanbul Bloom, Anna Laudel Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2022 ContemporaryIstanbul, Anna Laudel Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2020 Mamut Art Project, YapıKredi Bomontiada, Istanbul, Turkey

Residences
2025 International Residency Programme, Villa Concordia, Bamberg, Germany

With the Artistic Excellence Award