Eye Opener 2009

Curator: Here we have Burhan Dogancay’s mixed-media collage, "Eye Opener," created in 2009. It's quite a captivating piece. What's your immediate impression? Editor: Chaotic, but in a deliberate way. The layering, the torn paper, the exposed brick – it feels like uncovering layers of urban experience. It’s aggressive, raw... but the single framed eye introduces this really unsettling intimacy. Curator: I agree. The eye really draws you in. Dogancay’s process here, combining collage with elements that mimic street art, pushes against conventional painting. He brings the ephemerality of urban life – the ripped posters, the graffiti – directly into the artwork. Think about how he sources his materials, appropriating scraps from city walls; he's engaging with cycles of consumption and discard. Editor: Absolutely. That sense of "discard" is key, I think. What does it mean to rescue and re-contextualize these fragments of a city's visual landscape? I see echoes of urban decay theories. Who benefits from visual blight, and who is made invisible by it? Also the central eye is a commentary on surveillance... Curator: Right, and the act of framing the eye is pivotal. He's isolating and scrutinizing. It directs our gaze. Given Dogancay's background and his focus on city walls, this artwork, a complex layering of found material, labor and production creates, in a way, a reflection of urban development. Editor: I hadn't thought of the role of labor and the physical materials used! This invites broader socio-economic inquiry too. The “eye” then becomes almost accusatory, challenging power structures at play in urban environments. The Marilyn Monroe picture seems like a key inclusion given the celebrity and gender connotations... Curator: I like your thinking there. Considering those urban textures he collected, what they say about those materials themselves is vital here, not only about its subject. Editor: Precisely. We started seeing the “surface” of this work and ended up uncovering the layers beneath it!