Yesra Güzel Transforms The Ordinary Into Surreal Beauty

Bridging Reality And Imagination Through Art

Yesra Güzel, a self-taught artist, redefines the mundane with surreal imagination by blending nature, philosophy, and creativity, inviting viewers to connect deeply while exploring the boundaries of reality and art.

Yesra Güzel is a visionary artist who transforms the everyday into the extraordinary. Her work bridges the delicate threads of reality and imagination, offering art that is as thought-provoking as it is visually captivating. Though self-taught, her disciplined approach and philosophical insights have carved a unique space in the world of contemporary art. Güzel’s drawings invite us to pause, reflect, and rediscover the overlooked wonders of life, all through the lens of her deeply imaginative and deeply human perspective.

What makes Yesra’s art so compelling is its ability to blend the familiar with the surreal, creating compositions that feel both otherworldly and relatable. Her “Flying Houses” series, for example, is a profound meditation on home, nature, and identity, born from personal loss yet universally resonant. Using animals, trees, and whimsical structures, she infuses her art with kinetic energy and heart, reminding us of our intimate connection to the natural world—a bond she illustrates with both reverence and playfulness. Her work resounds with themes of movement and focus, a mesmerizing dance between simplicity and complexity.

Yesra’s creative journey is a fearless exploration driven by curiosity, intellect, and an abiding love for storytelling. Her ability to find beauty in simplicity, to reimagine the mundane as magical, is not just a testament to her artistic talent but also to her belief that art is a bridge—a connection between people, ideas, and emotions. Through her use of watercolors and pens, she not only builds visual harmony but also emphasizes the narratives within her work, much like underlining key sentences in a beloved book.

For Yesra Güzel, art is more than a practice; it is a way of life, a form of breathing. In her world of surreal elegance, viewers are not merely passive observers but active participants, invited to connect deeply with themselves and the artist. Her art doesn’t just reshape the way we see the world—it reshapes how we feel about it. It beckons us to pause, to see, and perhaps, to breathe under the shade of a shared imaginative tree.

Yesra Güzel’s art masterfully transforms simplicity into profound beauty, showcasing her unparalleled talent and philosophy-driven vision of creativity.

Your work reimagines the ‘simple’ things we often overlook in daily life, placing them in surreal contexts. What inspires you to focus on these mundane objects, and how do you decide which ones to bring into your artistic vision?

There are things that shine in daily life, nature and routine. There are moments in his routine without seeking approval from anyone or knowing that he is noticed by anyone. Here I photograph those moments. Think of these as naturally taken photos being more beautiful. Nature and everyday life are incredibly inspiring in their own right. I take screenshots of naturally occurring moments, assuming that no one sees or hears them, and blend them with other ideas in routine life. That’s why I can say that my mind is filled with a pile of screenshots.

“My mind is filled with a pile of screenshots.” – Yesra

You’ve mentioned that, unlike Dali’s ‘clock hanging on a tree,’ your surreal elements are always in action or in focus. How do you see the relationship between motion, focus, and imagination in your drawings, and what role does this play in creating a sense of reality within your surreal worlds?

In my drawings, the central and always moving elements are all animals. I can talk about this especially in my Flying Houses Series. Houses placed inside a bubble stand surrounded by animal and tree figures. Because I think our home is the home of a deer, an elephant and a bee in the forest. Flying Houses, which I made with the motto that we should build our houses by knowing and understanding this fact, was an idea for a series that came about when I completely lost Antakya (my hometown) in the earthquake. But as an artist, I also embrace the fact that my imagination is based on the elements of nature. Nature is incredible. Nature sees us, knows us, knows us. Even when you think no one sees you, nature actually understands and knows you. This magnificent surreal and at the same time real bond is the source of my imagination.

“Reality is the secret feeder of imagination.” – Yesra

You describe imagination as ‘reality itself and more.’ Could you elaborate on how you perceive the boundaries between imagination and reality in your art, and how do you aim to challenge or blur those boundaries in your creative process?

I don’t think there is a sharp boundary between imagination and reality as it is known. I think reality is the secret feeder of imagination. The better you draw something as it is, as close to reality as it is, the more creatively you can reach its limits of reality. Picasso has a sentence that I love: First learn the rules like a pro, and then break them like an artist!

Your work navigates the edges of simplicity and complexity, reality and imagination. How do you balance these contrasts in your compositions, and how do you know when a piece has achieved the right harmony between these opposing forces?

I am also a philosopher and therefore I have a discipline of thinking. In order to explain something simply, it is necessary to understand that thing very well, to think about it, and to sleep and wake up with that thing. As you spend time and think about something that seems complex, you learn to see it in a simpler form. I’m an artist still learning to see. The truth is, like all artists, when I look at the world, I see the complexities and breathe in the simple/everyday. I am looking for how to express with my own pen the simplicity, naturalness and minimalism that makes me breathe. This quest is what makes me draw. And I think the more I draw, the more I will reveal this. For this very reason, it is good that Philosophy exists.

Watercolor and rapido pen play distinct roles in your art, with watercolor establishing unity and the rapido pen highlighting key elements. What motivates your choice of these mediums, and how do they help you achieve your vision of emphasizing certain aspects of your drawings?

I speak by drawing, I communicate first with myself and then with the world. And with the rapido pen, I underline whatever I want to underline. Just like the sentences you underline while reading a book.

As an artist who finds meaning in reshaping the familiar, how do you hope viewers will engage with your work? Are you aiming to change their perception of everyday life, or is your work more about guiding them into a personal space of imagination?

I want them to connect. When I open Vavien Atölye (my Instagram page), I want someone who sees my drawing somewhere far away by chance, to find something from their own daily life and connect with me. Looking at a drawing can make me breathe deeply. I want people I don’t know to feel like they are breathing deeply, just like me, when they come across my drawings. Or like resting under the shade of a cool tree. I want to find people who read the same book and underline the same sentences 🙂