(1929 Istanbul 2013)

Untitled. 1981.

Gouache and watercolour on wove paper by Arches (with the watermark).

Signed and dated lower right: BDogancay 1981.

75.4 x 56.4 cm.

Provenance: Purchased directly from the artist, since then corporate collection Switzerland.

Burhan Dogançay, the painter and photographer of Turkish origin, has spent his life between Istanbul and New York. He grew up in an artistic environment; he was taught by his father, who was a painter himself. He also studied law at the University of Ankara. At the beginning of the 1950s he moved to Paris in order to do a PhD. There he got to know the art scene. In addition to his law studies he studied art at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. During his brief career as a diplomat he went to New York; he settled there and would never leave the city again.

His participation in numerous international group and solo shows saw his reputation grow. He received many awards. In 2004 he opened his own museum in Istanbul, which shows his own works and is also dedicated to those of his father.

Dogançay works in series. He is known primarily for his series of 30'000 photos, which cover 4 decades and document the walls of the world and urban walls. He has used many types of media for his artistic expression. His favourite medium remains collage, however. His work is characterised by repetition and duplication. Popular motifs are structures and symbols. His work ranges from photorealism, to abstraction, to Pop Art.

The works by Dogançay offered here come from the "Ribbons" series. The acrylic strips depicted are a continuation of the urban walls he has photographed so extensively. Shadows and bold colours are painted in a way which is reminiscent of oriental calligraphy.
This series made him famous in the 1970s and 80s. It is a play on forms that weave into each other.