Göksu Ilgaz Koçakcıgil, known as Skywaterr, is a mixed media artist born and raised in Istanbul Turkey, and currently based in San Francisco. Skywaterr is heavily influenced by the power of technology which, when she was young, was the only way for her to achieve freedom of speech.

Explaining her work to someone who has never seen it before, “Renaissance figurative work meets modern female gaze, abstraction, and technology. The most important thing to know about my art is that they are never planned ahead and are purely expressional/experimental.”

She explores many mediums in her practice including but not limited to ink, pastel, acrylic, spray paint, paper, canvas, digital custom brushes, digital canvas, motion graphics, and artificial intelligence to create color and emotion-based paintings. Her artworks usually reflect emotions through expressive color and brush techniques.

Skywaterr has exhibited her work globally since her final year studying art and visual communication design, in 2019. Past exhibition locations include Los Angeles, New York, Bali, Beijing, Portland, and more. Her artworks have been in more conversations for the past 2 years and published on various articles and newspapers including San Francisco Chronicle.

“I decided to move to the Bay Area for university in 2015 to study art and design. Quickly after, I fell in love with the diversity, open-mindedness, culture, and people of the Bay. Since being here, I've been influenced and inspired by radical self-expression which reflects in my work. I see so many cultures, identities, people expressing themselves in their own ways and that's truly inspiring”

Last year Skywaterr had an art show in New York and her artwork was blasted as large ads around the subways of New York by Artsy.net. See Skywaterrs work in an upcoming 3-person show at Moth Belly Gallery, curated by Jun Yang, which opens June 1st.

Feature Published: March 21, 2023
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