Press Releases

Who is Hakan Yurdadogan?

Hakan Yurdadogan was born in Ankara.  He attended high school in Nicosia, and continued his education at the Department of Architecture at METU.  He earned his B.A. degree in 1979, and his M.A. degree in 1982.  In 1985, he received art training in Venice. 

Yurdadogan has been involved in many different fields of art like photography, art and music.  Since 1974, he has focused on photography.  “Manhattan: the Magic of Glass and Steel”, a portrait of New York’s skyscrapers and streets, is the artist’s first photography exhibition.

About the exhibition

There are many cities with high buildings in the world, but none of them has the magic of Manhattan.  New York presents a mystical dance of shadow and light, colors and excitement.  Timbres, as if they are spreading from Broadway musicals to the city, evolve into a big symphony on the streets of Manhattan.  This magical and mystical symphony attracts millions of people to New York every year.  There is something appealing to everybody in this city; it’s a place where you can see people from all races and religions. 
I looked at Manhattan through the eyes of an architect and artist.  Early in the morning the high buildings begin to paint their deep shadows on the streets.  The shiny glass sides of buildings play games with the sunlight.  The reflections and shadows present fire and dance, practically a visual feast, while all who watch admire.  Even the passengers and vehicles on the roads become a part of this spell.

With my photographs, I have tried to reflect this dizzying attraction and magic of Manhattan.  I have tried to tell how metal and glass, shadow and light, colors and shapes all sing together.  It has not been easy to select the shots best reflecting Manhattan’s magic among the hundreds of photographs that I took between 2000 and 2005.  Because every photograph and every single corner of New York has a different story.  All of those stories are beautiful, though I had to select a limited number of photographs for the exhibition.  It is difficult to describe the magic of Manhattan by words, whereas it is rather easier to describe it by photographs.  This exhibition aims to trap the magic moments of Manhattan in shots and convey them to the audience. 

The saddest part of this exhibition has been the fact that the World Trade Center (WTC), the greatest “actor” of the Manhattan sky, does not exist anymore.  In Manhattan, every building has a different story.  If you remove even one of them, the city’s symphony will be incomplete.  The absence of the WTC building is felt around, yet the magic and excitement of Manhattan endure as always.