Melike Kara

Clubhouse is delighted to present a salon solo exhibition of new paintings by Cologne-based Melike Kara (b. 1985, Bensberg, Germany). Though raised in Germany, Kara maintains a profound connection to her Kurdish-Alevi heritage, which deeply informs her multidisciplinary practice spanning painting, sculpture, and photography. She is known for addressing issues of displacement, marginalization, and exclusion, focusing on making unheard voices heard and empowered. Blending Western painting techniques with iconography of her cultural heritage, Kara’s gestural abstract works reimagine inherited traditions through a contemporary lens. Her process of adaptation shifts the narrative away from dominant stories of oppression, instead creating spaces that celebrate the beauty of everyday cultural life and its history, including traditions, festivals, and rituals of the Kurdish diaspora.

In this salon series, Kara presents three green and blue-scale paintings, each titled aftertraditional Kurdish tapestry patterns. These works represent the intersection of her family ancestry and Western art historical brush strokes and painting techniques, abstracting the intricate motifs of woven textiles into expressive, layered compositions.

Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at MO.CO. Montpellier; SCHIRN Kunsthalle Frankfurt; Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen; Kunsthalle Zürich; Kunstverein Düsseldorf; Museum De Fundatie, Zwolle; Philara Foundation, Düsseldorf; Frac des pays de la Loire, Nantes; Mead Gallery | Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry; Neue Galerie Gladbeck; Ludwi gForum Aachen; Kölnischer Kunstverein; Wiels Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels; Kunstverein Göttingen; Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam; Yuz Museum, Shanghai and Dortmunder Kunstverein. She participated in the 58th Carnegie International in Pittsburgh, curated by Sohrab Mohebbi. Kara’s work is in numerous museum collections worldwide including Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; K11, Hong Kong; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), LosAngeles; Yuz Museum, Shanghai; Philara Foundation, Dü sseldorf; FRAC des Pays de La Loire,Carquefou; Zuzueum Museum, Riga; Pé rez Art Museum, Miami; Lauda Foundation, Vienna; Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, St. Gallen; M Woods Museum, Beijing; MG Space, Beijing; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Der bewohnte Garten, Pulheim, among others.

Please contact info@clubhouse.art for all questions and press inquiries.

18 March - 9 April 2025
3121 Fairlane Farms Road, Unit 8
Wellington, Florida 33414
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