Doğançay’s work at Istanbul Modern

Angela Doğançay, wife of Burhan Doğançay, a leading figure in the Turkish art scene who passed away in 2013, has donated one work from his last series to Istanbul Modern.

The painting, which was displayed at this museum in 2012 in an exhibition titled “Fifty Years of Urban Walls: A Burhan Doğançay Retrospective” which included 120 works from the artist’s 14 periods, was donated in honor of the 10th anniversary of Istanbul Modern’s founding and in honor of Oya and Bülent Eczacıbaşı.

“Stonewall” is a significant example of the variety of styles that Doğançay developed over the years around the theme of urban walls and which features prominently throughout his work.

“Istanbul Modern is the perfect home for ‘Stonewall’ where it will be cared for and made accessible to the entire world, not only by showcasing it in the museum’s galleries but also virtually through the Google Art Project,” said Angela Doğançay.

“Stonewall” is part of the “Double Realism” series that comprises 36 works. A subsection of this series, titled the “Tires” series, uses automobile tires as pictorial and installation material. As part of “Tires” series, “Stonewall” is a response to a local scene that Doğançay encountered in his explorations of walls in Turkey and abroad.

The “Apprentice Wanted” and “Open 24 Hours” signs on the wall of a tire repair shop in the city of Milas in the province of Muğla reflect lives in different cities lived with a consciousness of urbanization. With its wealth of three-dimensional material, it offers the viewer an experience more like that of an installation overflowing from the surface than that of a painting.

Burhan Doğançay’s work is...