The characters in Mehmet & Kazim’s paintings dissolve and absorb everything around them into an indiscernible bubble. These charmingly overwhelmed incognitos, crushed by responsibility, capitalism, discrimination, consumerism, or gentrification, walk around with plastic bags with their recent purchases, smiling from ear to ear (or hand to hand?), on the brink of despair, silently screaming or just sweating out of fear of discovery – perhaps the bags don’t contain anything bought at all. There is something both funny and tragic about them: chewed up and spit out by the city, they have been here for quite some time. As the darkness weighs on these creatures, resisting explosion, black seems the natural colour to depict them.
Recent institutional exhibitions include their presentation at Various Others, Munich (2025), MAGIC + COOL. Malerei der Jahrtausendwende at Museum Penzberg, Germany (2023); Zwei. Zur Aktualität des Duos at Städtische Galerie Villingen Schwenningen, Germany (2023); OHNE TITEL. Junge Malerei aus Süddeutschland und der Deutschschweiz at Kunstmuseum Singen, Germany (2022); and Debutants at Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2019).
Born 1984 in Munich, Germany
Born 1984 in Feldbach, Austria
Live and work in Munich, Germany
Selected solo exhibitions
2024
Mural, Pilevneli Gallery, Bodrum, Turkey
Kunst-Station, Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Germany
Irgendwas mit Dystopie, Kunstverein Heppenheim, Germany
Cherry Pop, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany
2023
Black Paintings, Contemporary Fine Arts Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Juicy, Pilevneli Gallery, Bodrum, Turkey
ENDLICH KOHLE MACHEN, Galerie Trocken, Berlin, Germany
2022
Bad and Boujee, Pilevneli Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
No Artistas, Kissing Cousins space, Germany
Kinky & Flirty, Ca di dio, Venice, Italy
2021
No Artistas, Verlag für moderne Kunst / Parallel Vienna, Austria
2020
Le Peep-Show, Kunstverein Friedrichshafen, Germany
Oriental Diary, Mandarin Oriental, Munich, Germany
2019
FEATURING pt. 2, Talbot Runhof, Zurich, Switzerland
FEATURING pt. 1, Talbot Runhof, Berlin, Germany
Oriental, Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, Germany
2018
REP YO COLORS, Akademiegalerie, Munich, Germany
Selected group exhibitions
2024
Ben beyinsiz bir aptalım, together with Andrè Butzer and John Newsom, Pilevneli Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
Dass die Göttin nicht himmelwärts, sondern herab nach ihren Freunden blickt, secci Gallery, Florenz, Italy
Gabi Dziuba & Friends, Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, Germany
2023
MAGIC + COOL. Malerei der Jahrtausendwende, Museum Penzberg, Germany
LIVE/EVIL RECORD STORE & SOUVENIRS, Munich, GermanyDer Bio Adapter, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany
Zwei. Zur Aktualität des Duos, Städtische Galerie Villingen Schwenningen, Germany
Sonne und Luft, Schauspielhaus Graz in cooperation with Steirischer Herbst, Graz, Austria
Prof. Markus Oehlen sagt Ciao!, Rote Sonne, Munich, Germany
Die Welt ist noch auf einen Abend mein, Galería Ehrhardt Flórez, Madrid, Spain
2022
OHNE TITEL, Junge Malerei aus Süddeutschland und der Deutschschweiz, Kunstmuseum Singen, Germany
The Patriot, O‘ Flaherty‘s, New York, USA
Summer Group Show, Pilevneli Gallery, Bodrum, Turkey
Albrecht Dürer revisited, Museum Otto Schäfer, Schweinfurt, Germany
Plakatkampagne, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
2021
Plakatkampagne, Residenztheater and Pinkaothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
Welche Stimmung fanden Sie dort vor?, Galerie Russi Klenner, Berlin, Germany
Markus Oehlen plus Meisterschüler, Galerie Noah, Augsburg, Germany
2020
Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Munich, Germany
Liebesgrüße aus Syke, Syker Vorwerk, Syke, Germany
Setting R.W.F. alive, MIM, Munich, Germany
Ansbach Contemporary 2020, Ansbach, Germany
2019
Denkraum Deutschland, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
Debutants, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
2018
Neue Deutsche Malerei, LINKSRECHTS, Hamburg, Germany
2017
STRAUßLAND, Galerie Verein Berliner Künstler, Berlin, Germany
Tiefes Loch auf Teppich, Kunstpavillon, Munich, Germany