MELİH ÇEBİ

Melih Çebi (b.1990) is based in İstanbul. 

Melih Çebi’s practice explores the relationship between the external world and the internal landscapes it produces. His work examines how consumerism, late-stage capitalism, technology and digital culture shape identity, desire and psychological experience, while addressing themes of memory, isolation, alienation and the subconscious.

Childhood remains an important reference in Çebi’s work, but its role has evolved. While his earlier works approached difficult subjects through a childlike perspective, childhood has increasingly become a visual language and emotional residue. Cartoon-like figures, playful colours and dark humour continue to define his imagery, but the perpetual smiles of his earlier characters now coexist with blank and expressionless faces. This shift reflects a growing interest in the psychological effects of contemporary life.

Çebi is particularly interested in the tension between connection and isolation. Social media and technology promise constant communication, while consumer culture encourages individuals to continuously construct, perform and present versions of themselves. Rather than treating these subjects solely as forms of social critique, Çebi explores how they become internalised, shaping the ways people understand themselves and relate to others. In his practice, the external world becomes an internal landscape.

His recurring characters function as ambiguous archetypes, moving between the personal and the universal. They inhabit a space where humour and anxiety, attraction and discomfort, innocence and alienation can exist simultaneously. Çebi deliberately employs the visual seduction of the culture he examines, using bright colours, familiar imagery, consumer objects and polished surfaces rather than positioning himself outside of them. The attractiveness of the work becomes part of its contradiction.

Working across acrylic, oil paint, mixed media and epoxy, Çebi also explores the relationship between surface and substance. The synthetic and glossy qualities of epoxy introduce a seductive yet artificial surface, reinforcing his ongoing interest in contemporary visual culture and the psychological spaces beneath it.

Rather than offering definitive answers, Çebi’s work remains engaged with questions of identity, conditioning and inner life: how much of the self is truly personal, and how much is shaped by theworld surrounding it? Can genuine connection exist within a culture of constant consumption and communication? And can the inner world ever remain separate from the external one?

His selected solo and group exhibitions include Can't Come Still Emerging, PİLOT, Istanbul (2025), Baby on Board, PİLOT, Istanbul (2023), X-topia- Ancient Futures: All Belongs to Time, İstanbul Archeology Museum (Istanbul, 2022), AFOM- Pop Up Art Exhibition, Sameheads (Berlin, 2022), Flowers in December, Buyukdere35 (Istanbul, 2022), AFOM-A friend of mine (Istanbul, 2022), FAM- Pulse (Istanbul, 2020), Summer Love, EKAV Eğitim Kültür Araştırma Vakfı (Istanbul, 2018), Lee Make History (Italy, 2011).