Burhan Doğançay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Burhan Cahit Doğançay (born 1929 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a painter and photographer who has lived in New York City since 1962.

[edit] Biography

Educated in both law and art in Paris, he began to take photographs of New York, especially of skyscrapers, when he arrived in 1962, and from there it evolved into a passion. He is primarily known for his wall-inspired painting and collages. He is fascinated with urban walls, and some of his more interesting works are of doors. His persistent occupation with and translation of urban walls into art is what earned him a reputation as "father of wall art".^{[citation needed]}

Doğançay played on the Turkish Gençlerbirliği soccer team for many years and is still a great fan of sports. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award for arts and culture by the President of Turkey. His work appears in numerous publications, the most recent being Walls of the World (Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld, 2003), Dogançay: Works on Paper: 1950-2000 (Hudson Hills Press, 2003), and Bridge of Dreams (Hudson Hills Press, 1999).

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art holds four of Doğançay's works. With over 150 works on display, Doğançay Museum in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul offers a stunning visual survey of the evolution of Doğançay's oeuvre and is Turkey's first one-artist museum. Currently Doğançay's works are on display in 56 museums around the world.