Alea Pinar Du Pre: Gormleys Belfast

Gormleys is pleased to present a solo exhibition by internationally established artist Alea Pinar Du Pre, on view from 7–23 February in Gormleys Belfast.

Of Austrian and Turkish heritage, Du Pre’s practice is shaped by a life lived across different cultures. Her work fuses classical figurative traditions with a bold, modern visual language, exploring themes of identity, perception, and femininity. 

The paintings in the exhibition exemplify her ability to balance technical precision with expressive abstraction.

Du Pre’s works are immediately recognisable for their intricate linear surfaces and rhythmic patterning. Faces and figures emerge through layered networks of fine lines, intersecting curves, and stained-glass-like colour fields. These compositions fragment and reassemble the human form, suggesting both vulnerability and strength. The women depicted are neither passive nor idealised; instead, they confront the viewer with a quiet intensity, their gazes suspended between introspection and self-possession.

Colour plays a central role throughout the exhibition. Du Pre employs a sophisticated palette of deep blues, warm ochres, reds, and muted neutrals, allowing areas of colour to flow through the figures and dissolve the boundary between body and background. This interplay creates a sense of movement and psychological depth, as if the inner life of the subject is mapped directly onto the painted surface.

In several works, the figure appears layered or doubled, hinting at multiple identities or shifting states of mind. The meticulous line work recalls engraving and printmaking traditions, yet the overall effect is resolutely contemporary.