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Burhan
DOGANCAY
Born and raised in Turkey, I received my education mostly in Paris during
the "golden fifties" when Paris was the art center of the
world. While complying with my father’s down-to-earth and well-intentioned
wish that I obtain a solid foundation for my adult life in the real
world, I obtained a doctorate in economics. But I also secretly pursued
my true love, art, by attending on the side courses at La Grande Chaumiere.
After Paris, I landed, a position in the diplomatic service, which eventually
brought me in the early 60s to New York, which by then had replaced
Paris as a thriving center for the arts.
Life
as a diplomat was glamorous, but all too soon I succumbed to the urge
to be a full-time artist and resigned from my post as Director of
Information & Tourism, only to experience a rude awakening, that
art is the toughest field to make a living in, and that people, who
call themselves your friends, disappear the minute you are no longer
in a prominent position.
With
not much bread to live on, I would, however, not let harsh conditions
stand in my way and discourage me. With the moral encouragement
of one of my staunchest supporters, the then
director of the Guggenheim Museum, Thomas M. Messer, I continued
to struggle on with nobody
but God on my side. It was hard, but eventually the fruits of my
labor would come to bear. Whenever I hit rock bottom, a miracle
would present itself and lift me up, likening me to a Phoenix rising
from the ashes. My work started to be acquired by the Guggenheim
Museum, and the City of New York honored me with a Certificate of
Appreciation on the occasion of my exhibition of paintings of New
York during the city’s300th anniversary. |
In
1969, I landed a fellowship at the prestigious Tamarind Lithography
Workshop in Los Angeles.
More prestigious museum collections acquired my work. And as my
financial situation improved,
I began to travel the world and photographically document the walls
of the world, which are the true inspiration of my art. A selection
of this photographic archive culminated in a one-man exhibition
in
1982 at the Georges Pompidou Center. Now 17 years later, in 1999,
I have seen the world after
having visited 107 countries, with only a few "travelleable"
countries left to be explored. Things continuously kept looking
up and improving bit by bit. Other museum exhibitions followed.
My first
book, a monograph, titled Dogançay, appeared in 1986,
followed in 1992 by a French publication
of a book featuring photographs from my walls of the world archive
(Dessine-Moi l’Amour). 1999
saw another milestone accomplished with the publication of my exclusive
photographs of the
Brooklyn Bridge in a book titled Bridge of Dreams. |
FICTIONAL
BIO
The
Book: BRIDGE OF DREAMS
also
LMTV:
BRIDGE OF DREAMS
(TV program media release
RETURN
ART & ARTIST page
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