Burhan Dogancay: Fifty Years of Urban Walls

Since the early 1960s, Burhan DoganCay has followed the social, cultural, and political transformation of modern and contemporary culture through an examination of walls, which serve as templates for his art. “Walls are mirrors of society,” he says. “From a wall, you can tell a lot about the people, the neighborhood. I made an archive of our time. Whenever elections or important events happened in a country, I’d go.” Walls serve as a testament to the passage of time, reflecting social, political, and economic change. They also bear witness to the assault of the elements and to the markings left by people. No other artist has explored urban walls as thoroughly and with the same passion as DoganCay. This catalog contains 126 illustrations of all the large- and small-scale works on canvas from the exhibition, in different media, including collages and installations, all drawn from 14 different series in the artist’s oeuvre.