The Red Queen

“The Red Queen” measuring 120×180 cm, Oil on Canvas.
Available to buy.

“It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.”
— Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass

This line, spoken by the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll’s chess-structured novel, captures the paradox of movement within systems: effort does not guarantee progress, and motion without strategy leads only to repetition.

Kıslaoğlu draws from this literary foundation to position the Red Queen not as a decorative monarch, but as a symbol of disciplined authority. Within Carroll’s world, identity and power are defined by placement on the board by rules, rank, and consequence. The queen embodies command inside constraint.

The painting translates this philosophy into a contemporary visual language. The figure’s composed posture and direct gaze suggest awareness rather than impulse. Strength is rendered through restraint; dominance through precision. The geometric costume echoes the chessboard’s architecture, reinforcing themes of structure, hierarchy, and calculated motion. The knight emblem signals tactical intelligence power exercised with foresight.

Rather than celebrating speed or spectacle, The Red Queen reflects on strategic endurance: the capacity to move deliberately within rigid systems while maintaining presence and control.

This work forms part of Kışlaoğlu’s ongoing 64 Series, an exploration of silent power structures, human roles, and the psychological landscapes of strategy.

Artist Statement
“I am interested in power that understands its environment. The Red Queen reminds us that movement alone is not mastery awareness is.”

Queen Over Knight

“Queen Over Knight” measuring 100×150 cm, Oil on Canvas.
Available to buy.

There is a difference between movement and power.

In Queen Over Knight, Simay Kislaoglu explores quiet authority through the language of chess.

A woman stands still, calm, and self-possessed.
Above her rises the knight symbol of action, impulse, and unpredictability.

The knight moves fast.
The queen sees far.

Although the knight is placed higher, the woman carries the presence of the queen the most powerful figure on the board. This contrast is intentional. Height is not dominance. Motion is not control.

The painting reflects a simple truth about life:
real power is not loud. It is aware.

Part of the artist’s 64 Series, inspired by the chessboard’s sixty-four squares, the work examines strategy, hierarchy, and inner discipline the silent forces that shape decisions and destinies.

There is no battle here.
Only mastery.

“Power is not in rushing forward.
Power is in knowing when not to move.”

Sancta Potentia

“Sancta Potentia” measuring 100×150 cm, Oil on Canvas.
Available to buy.

Sancta Potentia means holy power a power that is pure.

This is not power that fights.
Not power that proves.
It is power that stays clean.

Her face is calm and direct. The halo behind her head is a circle of clarity a symbol of something untouched. The gold is not luxury here; it is purity. It is the feeling of discipline, devotion, and inner order.

The figure stands like an icon, but the message is human: when the world becomes noisy, purity becomes strength. To remain uncorrupted is a form of victory.

This painting is about light that does not beg for attention.
It simply exists and that is why it feels sacred.

Checkmate

“Checkmate” measuring 120×180 cm, Oil on Canvas.
Available to buy.

Some endings arrive quietly.

Checkmate is not a painting about loud victory. It is about the moment when the mind becomes still when the decision is already made, and nothing needs to be proven. The figure feels calm, strong, and present. She does not fight for power; she carries it.

The chessboard is not only a pattern here. It becomes a world. It wraps the body and fills the space, like a life built on strategy and consequences.

The chess pieces float like her private thoughts. They stand for decisions, memories, and fate things that stay with us even when we stay silent. Nothing is falling. Nothing is noisy. Everything is held in control, like a mind that has already chosen its path. This is not a loud victory. It is a quiet ending.

For the first time, I moved away from my usual reds and blues and worked with brownish, earth tones. This new palette was a challenge but it gave the painting a deeper silence. The colors feel grounded, mature, and timeless.

Checkmate belongs to my 64 Series, where chess becomes a symbol of the inner life: choice, patience, discipline, and the cost of every move.

 

Apatheia

“Apatheia” measuring 100×150 cm, Oil on Canvas.
Available to buy.

In this work, Simay Kışlaoğlu explores the idea of calm as a form of strength. The figure carries two gazes: one lowered inward, and one meeting the viewer with quiet confidence. The bold geometric forms and crown-like silhouette create a sense of armour, suggesting a woman who protects her inner world while standing firmly in her outer one. “Apatheia” brings together vulnerability and control, showing how both can exist within a single face.

Snow White

“Snow White” measuring 70×120 cm, Oil on Canvas.
Available to buy.

I named her Snow White because her face carries that soft, pale light that feels both calm and strong at the same time. Her gaze is bewitching not in a loud way, but in the way someone looks when they’ve lived through things and learned to stand with quiet dignity.

She has power, but she doesn’t perform it.
She holds it.

The chess pattern surrounding her is more than design; it reflects the reality of life constant decisions, challenges, and the emotional weight we carry. She stands within it all, steady and composed, even when the world feels heavy.

This portrait is about a woman who doesn’t give up.
A woman who protects her softness without losing her strength.
A woman who keeps going.

Snow White is not just a painting; she is a reminder of resilience the quiet, inner kind that lasts.

The Heir

“The Heir” measuring 120×180 cm, Oil on Silk Fabric.
Available to buy.

The Heir carries the echo of an empire not through crowns or victory, but through memory.

Her face is woven with patterns, like the faded walls of an old palace, holding stories no one dares to speak.

She stands for every woman who kept dynasties alive, not by power, but by patience, silence, and endurance.

She is the unseen foundation the breath behind the throne.

This work is a reflection on inheritance:

Not of land or title, but of blood, history, and the weight of belonging.

Cinders and Queens

“Cinders and Queens” measuring 150×150 cm, Oil on Canvas.
Available to buy.

“Where power rises from ashes” connects the work to the phoenix myth, a symbol of rebirth through fire. It speaks about resilience, the strength not only to survive hardship, but to turn it into something greater.

The message is clear: even from total collapse, something strong and majestic can be born. True power doesn’t come from ease; it is shaped and forged in struggle. As Nietzsche reminds us, “What does not kill me makes me stronger.”

Blue

“Blue” measuring 120×180 cm, Oil on Silk Fabric.
Available to buy.

This painting carries a quiet influence from the Baroque the richness of fabric, the weight of gold, the stillness before emotion moves.

I wasn’t trying to recreate a style. I followed a feeling.
The blue came first. Then her face. Then everything slowed down.

There’s no story here, only presence. A moment held in light, color, and silence.

 

Moonlit Sultana

“Moonlit Sultana” measuring 90×120 cm, Oil on Silk Fabric.
Available to buy.

A contemporary homage to classical Orientalist portraiture, Moonlit Sultana is deeply inspired by the works of Jean-Léon Gérôme, whose mastery in capturing the richness of the Sultan era resonates with my artistic vision. Through intricate layers of oil paint on silk fabric, I seek to evoke the same timeless elegance and historical depth found in Gérôme’s depictions of the East.

The unique integration of silk fabric adds a tactile dimension, enhancing the illusion of luxury and opulence elements that defined the grandeur of the era. This piece is not just a portrait; it is a bridge between past and present, where art, history, and craftsmanship merge to bring the mystique of the Sultanate to life.