Serkan Sarıer explores themes of identity and displacement in his works. While examining how ethnicity, gender, and environmental factors shape an individual’s sense of self, he also interrogates the feeling of not belonging to a particular space or community. Sarıer’s works reveal the tension between concepts of belonging and alienation, offering a critical perspective on the existential condition of the individual in contemporary society.
The artist’s approach, which deforms figurative narratives, reimagines the human body both physically and conceptually. Sarıer’s grotesque distortions expose the fragility of individuals under societal norms and pressures. These deformations highlight the tensions between the physical and psychological boundaries of the human experience, while also addressing the complexities of modern identity on an abstract level. In his works, the body becomes a metaphor that reflects both personal struggles and the confrontation with societal structures.
Shaped by postmodern aesthetics, Sarıer’s artistic language transforms reality into a multilayered phenomenon, moving beyond fixed representations. By treating the body as both a material and symbolic map, he uncovers the influences of personal psychologies and social constructs. Themes such as the fragility and commodification of the body in Sarıer’s works reflect the oppressive impacts of modern society on the individual. This unsettling yet captivating aesthetic carries a powerful subtext that critiques identity crises and the individual’s position within social frameworks in today’s world.
Born in 1979 in Hanau, Germany, Serkan Sarıer graduated from the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 2001 and completed his master’s degree at Goldsmiths University of London in 2018. His selected exhibitions include Hubris at PİLEVNELİ (2024); Weeping Glitch at PİLEVNELİ Yalıkavak (2023); Wer Wir Sind at Bundeskunsthalle Bonn (2023); and Swarm at PİLEVNELİ (2022).
Serkan Sarıer lives and works in Berlin and New York.