Pop is a waxwork figure of the artist as Sid Vicious in the pose of Andy Warhol's Elvis Presley, which imagined the be-quiffed star as a gunslinging cowboy - the original king of Pop as celebrated by the original "king" of Pop Art. A homage to both, Pop finds Turk adopting the same rebel snarl with the curled upper lip, not as the King of Pop but the dark Prince of punk. While Elvis was a sanitised icon of the music industry given a rebellious makeover by Warhol, Sid was a natural outsider who found himself somewhat accidentally at the heart of pop culture. Both came to untimely and sticky ends, sucked up and spat out by the same system, with a heavy dose of self-destruction thrown in for good measure. Certainly, there was nothing glossy or shiny or bright about the respective ends of these two nemeses. But if Pop is a comment on the nature of celebrity and the inbuilt self-destruction of the star system, which likes its martyrs young and damaged - with not a small nod at the martyrdom expected of artists should they ever hope to see their name up in lights, also - it is also a wry take on the commodification of culture, in which rebels and heroes, artists, art works and icons are reduced to products whose value is determined by the arbitrary randomness of the market. Removed from the mean streets of punk's DIY roots, this Sid Vicious is already a museum object, a historical curiosity in a glass vitrine to be gazed upon at a safe distance. No longer a threat, this Sid Vicious may be pointing his gun, but the only things his piece is firing, are blanks. And what of The Artist? Once regarded as a outsider, has the market rendered Him an impotent and antiquated museum curiosity too? Has the gunslinger been relegated to the realm of cliche, no longer a threat but taken hostage by the very system he hoped to challenge? Is he now responsible for writing his own ransom note? Or is there still a possibility that he may yet lay claim to the mantra made famous twice, first by Frank Sinatra and then by Sid that, right to the end, glass vitrine and all,

end, he did it "My Way"?

Waxwork in brass, wood and glass vitrine

Pop is a waxwork figure of the artist as Sid Vicious in the pose of Andy Warhol's Elvis Presley, which imagined the be-quiffed star as a gunslinging cowboy - the original king of Pop as celebrated by the original "king" of Pop Art. A homage to both, Pop finds Turk adopting the same rebel snarl with the curled upper lip, not as the King of Pop but the dark Prince of punk. While Elvis was a sanitised icon of the music industry given a rebellious makeover by Warhol, Sid was a natural outsider who found himself somewhat accidentally at the heart of pop culture. Both came to untimely and sticky ends, sucked up and spat out by the same system, with a heavy dose of self-destruction thrown in for good measure. Certainly, there was nothing glossy or shiny or bright about the respective ends of these two nemeses. But if Pop is a comment on the nature of celebrity and the inbuilt self-destruction of the star system, which likes its martyrs young and damaged - with not a small nod at the martyrdom expected of artists should they ever hope to see their name up in lights, also - it is also a wry take on the commodification of culture, in which rebels and heroes, artists, art works and icons are reduced to products whose value is determined by the arbitrary randomness of the market. Removed from the mean streets of punk's DIY roots, this Sid Vicious is already a museum object, a historical curiosity in a glass vitrine to be gazed upon at a safe distance. No longer a threat, this Sid Vicious may be pointing his gun, but the only things his piece is firing, are blanks. And what of The Artist? Once regarded as a outsider, has the market rendered Him an impotent and antiquated museum curiosity too? Has the gunslinger been relegated to the realm of cliche, no longer a threat but taken hostage by the very system he hoped to challenge? Is he now responsible for writing his own ransom note? Or is there still a possibility that he may yet lay claim to the mantra made famous twice, first by Frank Sinatra and then by Sid that, right to the end, glass vitrine and all, end, he did it "My Way"?

Celebrity

Elvis

Icons

Punk

Self-Portrait

Fool

Outsider

Warhol

Masks

Faces

Sculpture

Pop is a waxwork figure of the artist as Sid Vicious in the pose of Andy Warhol's Elvis Presley, which imagined the be-quiffed star as a gunslinging cowboy - the original king of Pop as celebrated by the original "king" of Pop Art. A homage to both, Pop finds Turk adopting the same rebel snarl with the curled upper lip, not as the King of Pop but the dark Prince of punk. While Elvis was a sanitised icon of the music industry given a rebellious makeover by Warhol, Sid was a natural outsider who found himself somewhat accidentally at the heart of pop culture.

Egg shell painted to look like briar wood displayed in a wall mounted museum vitrine.

This sculpture is a blown egg, hand painted to appear as if it has been carved from briarwood – which comes from the root-ball of the briar bush and is traditionally used to make pipes. Wood grain is a common motif in so-called ‘trompe-l’oeil’ paintings, where the skill of the artist literally ‘fools the eye’ into believing that the flat depictions are in fact three-dimensional objects. Stone and wood eggs are popular contemplative ornaments (being elegant sculptural forms), while Turk is interested in the paradox of originality that the egg motif commonly stands for.

Briar Egg

Painted egg in vitrine

Egg shell painted to look like briar wood displayed in a wall mounted museum vitrine.This sculpture is a blown egg, hand painted to appear as if it has been carved from briarwood – which comes from the root-ball of the briar bush and is traditionally used to make pipes. Wood grain is a common motif in so-called ‘trompe-l’oeil’ paintings, where the skill of the artist literally ‘fools the eye’ into believing that the flat depictions are in fact three-dimensional objects. Stone and wood eggs are popular contemplative ornaments (being elegant sculptural forms), while Turk is interested in the paradox of originality that the egg motif commonly stands for.

Eggs

Trompe L'oeil

Egg shell painted to look like briar wood displayed in a wall mounted museum vitrine.

Black &amp; white bromide and a ten minute video taken from a Performance Art event where the Artist was levitated by a magician in front of a live audience.

A Marvellous Force of Nature 

Bromide photographs & video

Illusion

Photographic Work

Black & white bromide and a ten minute video taken from a Performance Art event where the Artist was levitated by a magician in front of a live audience.

A ceramic vase-like toilet bowl/egg cup profile sitting on a wooden block plinth with a plaque reading 'Font (Galeria Nationale d'Arte Moderna Roma)'.

Font (Galeria Nationale d&rsquo;Arte Moderna Roma)

Ceramic, oak plinth & bronze plaque

Font

A ceramic vase-like toilet bowl/egg cup profile sitting on a wooden block plinth with a plaque reading 'Font (Galeria Nationale d'Arte Moderna Roma)'.