Artist Doğan sells his works on a lemon stand to protest financial hardship

The artist named Doğan put his works up for sale on a lemon stand for 25 TL to protest financial hardship and open the economic conditions of art production to debate. Featuring slogans such as "I am an artist, I cannot make a living" and "Lemons are 25 TL each" at his stand, the artist brings economic contradictions to light.

Placing slogans such as “I am an artist, I cannot make a living”, “Lemons are 25 TL each”, “From the producer to the public”, “Cheaper than a ‘ticket’ artwork” on his stand, Doğan opened the economic conditions of art production to debate. He explained the starting point of the idea with the words, “We have all heard the sentence, ‘I will sell lemons if necessary.’ Selling lemons feels like the last resort a person will turn to when all their resources are exhausted. Working to continue producing while having to work so that one cannot produce turns into a paradox at some point. The lemon stand is actually a protest of this contradiction.”

Stating that economic security provides the artist with a space to search, make mistakes, and try new ways, Doğan pointed out the difficulty of an artist dreaming carefree when worrying about how to pay next month's rent. Stating that visibility is gaining increasing importance in the art world, the artist expressed that fairs, galleries, the market, and social media algorithms push artists to produce more and get engagement. Stating that under these conditions artists can start thinking about what will sell rather than what they want to do, Doğan argued that this creates a problem in terms of originality. By setting a price of 25 TL for his works, the artist also brought up the question of whether the value of a piece of work is determined by where it is exhibited or sold.