English
In the westernized and lively Beyoglu district, known for its famous nightlife, art galleries and seductive combination of neoclassical and art nouveau buildings, there is a splendid five-storey building from the middle of the second half of the nineteenth century, which most rooms, are dedicated to the work of Burthan Dogançay, one of the most important Turkish artists from the twentieth-century whose work revolves around the observation of the walls of hundred large cities around the world, which he has visited during his life. The impression left on him from these walls at the time he looked at them, was later materialized in the form of paintings, prints, photographs, tapestries and sculptures.
Until the 23rd of September, Istanbul Modern, the Museum of Modern Art in Istanbul, also located in Beyoglu, opens a major retrospective of Burthan Dogançay curated by Levent Çal?ko?lu coinciding with the first 50 years since he began to develop his fascinating work
Indeed, Burhan Dogançay began his particular and captivating exploration of contemporary urban culture, through the walls of the cities he visited during the early sixties. His attitude is similar to the one that an anthropologist that studies in detail the insight, without giving signs of a remote culture, only makes him look carefully to examine the present on the vertical surfaces of contemporary cities: from Posters or tatters once abused by the rustling and time to political slogans, declarations of love spontaneous, lyrical, bawdy sexual references, newspaper clippings glued to the walls, graffiti or various slogans. These are all items that he later organized through different techniques and styles that reproduce in any way the visual language present in the actual walls, incorporating all that in them is expressed, whether references to popular culture icons or symbols political varied.
The most interesting pieces of this retrospective exhibition vary greatly in size in a range that goes from small objects to huge facilities that extend beyond the walls simulated via large canvases. The same diversity characterizes both the objectives and the specific concerns that responds to each piece as the materials used. In all the works exhibited are an impressive array comprised of 14 series for two separate distinct time periods that come from different museums and international collections.
The exhibition catalog, published by Prestel Germany, offers a revealing series of explanatory articles of the images show a rich variety of perspectives on the artist´s work while photographically documented his life and his journeys across the planet.
If you rent apartments in Istanbul don’t miss the chance to walk along the imaginary walls of Dogançay. It is an exhilarating experience with some doses of vertigo difficult to forget.
