Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down. Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture. A tiny security pin can fix the underside of the piece to a surface if required for installation.A bronze cast of a shrivelled apple core with green skin and a long stalk, painted to look real.Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures. Heavy with the symbolism of an English Eden, these once ripe fruits, alongside their associations with knowledge and temptation, Adam’s apple and of course, Eve, have been discarded and tossed away. Now “rotten to the core”, the fruits of the utopian English garden have become a poisonous symbol of man’s fall. Or perhaps they are nothing more ominous than evidence of a healthy diet in which their daily consumption contains the promise to keep the doctor away.

Prone Apple Core

Painted bronze

Apples

Food

Painted Bronze

Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down. Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture. A tiny security pin can fix the underside of the piece to a surface if required for installation.A bronze cast of a shrivelled apple core with green skin and a long stalk, painted to look real.

Ariadne (2006–2014) is a bronze sculpture painted to look like a crudely carved polystyrene approximation

of the Greek Goddess. The Italian metaphysical painter De Chirico used this reclining symbol as an archetype

of classicism in a series of surreal landscapes. By appearing to render her in this pernicious 20th century material, the artist makes a punkish throw-up in the consecrated gallery. In a nod to Tony Hancock’s ‘The Rebel’, he questions value and the history of western traditions through the degenerated male gaze.

Ariadne

Ariadne (2006–2014) is a bronze sculpture painted to look like a crudely carved polystyrene approximationof the Greek Goddess. The Italian metaphysical painter De Chirico used this reclining symbol as an archetypeof classicism in a series of surreal landscapes. By appearing to render her in this pernicious 20th century material, the artist makes a punkish throw-up in the consecrated gallery. In a nod to Tony Hancock’s ‘The Rebel’, he questions value and the history of western traditions through the degenerated male gaze.

Outsider

Polystyrene

Ariadne (2006–2014) is a bronze sculpture painted to look like a crudely carved polystyrene approximation of the Greek Goddess. The Italian metaphysical painter De Chirico used this reclining symbol as an archetype of classicism in a series of surreal landscapes. By appearing to render her in this pernicious 20th century material, the artist makes a punkish throw-up in the consecrated gallery. In a nod to Tony Hancock’s ‘The Rebel’, he questions value and the history of western traditions through the degenerated male gaze.

Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down. Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture. A tiny security pin can fix the underside of the piece to a surface if required for installation.A bronze cast of a curved, browning apple core with large pips and red skin, painted to look real. Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures. Heavy with the symbolism of an English Eden, these once ripe fruits, alongside their associations with knowledge and temptation, Adam’s apple and of course, Eve, have been discarded and tossed away. Now “rotten to the core”, the fruits of the utopian English garden have become a poisonous symbol of man’s fall. Or perhaps they are nothing more ominous than evidence of a healthy diet in which their daily consumption contains the promise to keep the doctor away.

Mythology

Waste

Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down. Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture. A tiny security pin can fix the underside of the piece to a surface if required for installation.A bronze cast of a curved, browning apple core with large pips and red skin, painted to look real.

A black and white football pattern painted on an egg. Following in the footsteps of Dali, Magritte and Manzoni, eggs recurs again and again in Gavin’s work as sculptural metaphors for the surreal philosophical puzzle; which came first, the chicken or egg? Symbols of life, of creation, of originality, fragility and mortality Turk’s eggs appear as surreal faces, as giant duck eggs, as broken shells depicting his signature and in liquid form as mayonnaise and egg tempura, while his “hare” eggs create mythical new hybrids altogether. Transforming eggs from the sacred to the profane, the pure to the parasitical, a symbol of creation to something created, Turk journeys from eggs to eggs cups to egg-cup shaped fonts as he explores the delicate relationship between life and death, art and artist.

Study for Football Egg

Painted egg shell

A black and white football pattern painted on an egg.Following in the footsteps of Dali, Magritte and Manzoni, eggs recurs again and again in Gavin’s work as sculptural metaphors for the surreal philosophical puzzle; which came first, the chicken or egg? Symbols of life, of creation, of originality, fragility and mortality Turk’s eggs appear as surreal faces, as giant duck eggs, as broken shells depicting his signature and in liquid form as mayonnaise and egg tempura, while his “hare” eggs create mythical new hybrids altogether. Transforming eggs from the sacred to the profane, the pure to the parasitical, a symbol of creation to something created, Turk journeys from eggs to eggs cups to egg-cup shaped fonts as he explores the delicate relationship between life and death, art and artist.

Eggs

Football

Ready Made

A black and white football pattern painted on an egg. Following in the footsteps of Dali, Magritte and Manzoni, eggs recurs again and again in Gavin’s work as sculptural metaphors for the surreal philosophical puzzle; which came first, the chicken or egg? Symbols of life, of creation, of originality, fragility and mortality Turk’s eggs appear as surreal faces, as giant duck eggs, as broken shells depicting his signature and in liquid form as mayonnaise and egg tempura, while his “hare” eggs create mythical new hybrids altogether.

Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down.  Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture.  A tiny security pin can fix the underside of the piece to a surface if required for installation.A bronze cast of a shrivelled, browning apple core with reddish skin and a long stalk, painted to look real.Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures. Heavy with the symbolism of an English Eden, these once ripe fruits, alongside their associations with knowledge and temptation, Adam’s apple and of course, Eve, have been discarded and tossed away. Now “rotten to the core”, the fruits of the utopian English garden have become a poisonous symbol of man’s fall. Or perhaps they are nothing more ominous than evidence of a healthy diet in which their daily consumption contains the promise to keep the doctor away.

The Fall

Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down. Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture. A tiny security pin can fix the underside of the piece to a surface if required for installation.A bronze cast of a shrivelled, browning apple core with reddish skin and a long stalk, painted to look real.Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures. Heavy with the symbolism of an English Eden, these once ripe fruits, alongside their associations with knowledge and temptation, Adam’s apple and of course, Eve, have been discarded and tossed away. Now “rotten to the core”, the fruits of the utopian English garden have become a poisonous symbol of man’s fall. Or perhaps they are nothing more ominous than evidence of a healthy diet in which their daily consumption contains the promise to keep the doctor away.

Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down. Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture. A tiny security pin can fix the underside of the piece to a surface if required for installation. A bronze cast of a shrivelled, browning apple core with reddish skin and a long stalk, painted to look real. Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures.

A single black bin bag print on a white background. Inspired by Yves Klein's Anthropometric paintings.

Bag Body 

Diamond dust and acrylic paint on canvas

Acrylic paint and diamond dust on canvas

Bin Bags

Rubbish

Klein

Silkscreen

A single black bin bag print on a white background. Inspired by Yves Klein's Anthropometric paintings.

A giant egg covered with hare pelt placed on bricks made of wood in reference to Magritte, Brancusi, Manzoni, Andre and Beuys. Following in the footsteps of Dali, Magritte and Manzoni, eggs recurs again and again in Gavin&rsquo;s work as sculptural metaphors for the surreal philosophical puzzle; which came first, the chicken or egg? Symbols of life, of creation, of originality, fragility and mortality Turk&rsquo;s eggs appear as surreal faces, as giant duck eggs, as broken shells depicting his signature and in liquid form as mayonnaise and egg tempura, while his &ldquo;hare&rdquo; eggs create mythical new hybrids altogether. Transforming eggs from the sacred to the profane, the pure to the parasitical, a symbol of creation to something created, Turk journeys from eggs to eggs cups to egg-cup shaped fonts as he explores the delicate relationship between life and death, art and artist.

Hare Egg

Hare pelt, fibreglass and wood

Magritte

Animalia

Hair

Sculpture

A giant egg covered with hare pelt placed on bricks made of wood in reference to Magritte, Brancusi, Manzoni, Andre and Beuys.

A bronze cast of the middle of a toilet roll painted to look real.Turk&rsquo;s trompe l&rsquo;oeil sculptures of toilet rolls mischievously imply a symbiotic association between art and shit. Indeed, works such as In Memory of Piero Manzoni see Turk make a playful reference to Manzoni&rsquo;s Merda D&rsquo;Artista in which he presented cans of shit as art. Concerned with challenging meaning through re-cycling, re-appropriation and re-contextualisation, Turk&rsquo;s bog rolls might also be seen to taken on a new life as a child&rsquo;s telescope &ndash; itself an object used to change the viewer&rsquo;s perspective. They also bear an uncanny similarity to rollers used by painters and decorators to apply paint and wallpaper, transforming the artist into a humble tradesman in the process. Or perhaps not, since these bog rolls are made not from cardboard but bronze, elevating the status of the banal to something far more grand.

The End of the Roll

The End

A bronze cast of the middle of a toilet roll painted to look real.

A bronze cast of the middle of a toilet roll painted to look real.

Telescope

A single black bin bag print seen from top, on a white background, inspired by Yves Klein's Anthropometric paintings

Monochrome Bag

A single black bin bag print seen from top, on a white background, inspired by Yves Klein's Anthropometric paintings

A bronze cast of an apple core with red skin on the bottom, green skin on the top and a large stalk, painted to look real.Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures. Heavy with the symbolism of an English Eden, these once ripe fruits, alongside their associations with knowledge and temptation, Adam&rsquo;s apple and of course, Eve, have been discarded and tossed away. Now &ldquo;rotten to the core&rdquo;, the fruits of the utopian English garden have become a poisonous symbol of man&rsquo;s fall. Or perhaps they are nothing more ominous than evidence of a healthy diet in which their daily consumption contains the promise to keep the doctor away.

Jacques Lacan

A bronze cast of an apple core with red skin on the bottom, green skin on the top and a large stalk, painted to look real.

A bronze cast of a crushed polystyrene chip tray, painted to look real.

Finding beauty in the trashy and ugly, Turk gives the polystyrene used chip tray – alongside with its cousin the burger tray – a grandiose makeover, transforming rubbish into art in the form of a painted bronze sculpture. The remains of a traditional English dish and cheap street food for the masses, Turk’s chip trays become elegiac and nostalgic relics not just of a hearty meal but a set of cultural values which appear to be rapidly vanishing.

Cod &amp; Chips to Go 

A bronze cast of a crushed polystyrene chip tray, painted to look real. Finding beauty in the trashy and ugly, Turk gives the polystyrene used chip tray – alongside with its cousin the burger tray – a grandiose makeover, transforming rubbish into art in the form of a painted bronze sculpture. The remains of a traditional English dish and cheap street food for the masses, Turk’s chip trays become elegiac and nostalgic relics not just of a hearty meal but a set of cultural values which appear to be rapidly vanishing.

Cod & Chips to Go 

A four panel print of the Artist as Elvis Presley in black on a cream and blue camouflage background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreen.

Camouflage Elvis Cream

Silkscreen ink and metallic paint on canvas

Elvis

Camouflage

Faces

Icons

A four panel print of the Artist as Elvis Presley in black on a cream and blue camouflage background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreen.

A colour drawing of a black bin bag.

Psychedelic Bag

Coloured ink on paper

Work on paper

A bronze cast of an apple core with a green top and bottom and dark wrinkly flesh, painted to look real.Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures. Heavy with the symbolism of an English Eden, these once ripe fruits, alongside their associations with knowledge and temptation, Adam&rsquo;s apple and of course, Eve, have been discarded and tossed away. Now &ldquo;rotten to the core&rdquo;, the fruits of the utopian English garden have become a poisonous symbol of man&rsquo;s fall. Or perhaps they are nothing more ominous than evidence of a healthy diet in which their daily consumption contains the promise to keep the doctor away.

The Mirror Stage

A bronze cast of an apple core with a green top and bottom and dark wrinkly flesh, painted to look real.

A bronze cast of a dishevelled polystyrene burger tray, painted to look real.

Burger Tray

Packaging

Trompe L'oeil

A bronze cast of a dishevelled polystyrene burger tray, painted to look real.

A bronze cast of a mouldy apple core with pips showing, painted to look real. Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures. Heavy with the symbolism of an English Eden, these once ripe fruits, alongside their associations with knowledge and temptation, Adam&rsquo;s apple and of course, Eve, have been discarded and tossed away. Now &ldquo;rotten to the core&rdquo;, the fruits of the utopian English garden have become a poisonous symbol of man&rsquo;s fall. Or perhaps they are nothing more ominous than evidence of a healthy diet in which their daily consumption contains the promise to keep the doctor away.

Inside Outside

A bronze cast of a mouldy apple core with pips showing, painted to look real.

A coloured ink painting of a bin bag.

Colourful Waste

A bronze cast of an apple core with red top and bottom and large pips showing, painted to look real. Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures. Heavy with the symbolism of an English Eden, these once ripe fruits, alongside their associations with knowledge and temptation, Adam&rsquo;s apple and of course, Eve, have been discarded and tossed away. Now &ldquo;rotten to the core&rdquo;, the fruits of the utopian English garden have become a poisonous symbol of man&rsquo;s fall. Or perhaps they are nothing more ominous than evidence of a healthy diet in which their daily consumption contains the promise to keep the doctor away.

The Pleasure Principle

A bronze cast of an apple core with red top and bottom and large pips showing, painted to look real.

A colour drawing of a black bin bag.

Mucky Brass

A bronze cast of a mouldy apple core with reddish skin, painted to look real. Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures. Heavy with the symbolism of an English Eden, these once ripe fruits, alongside their associations with knowledge and temptation, Adam&rsquo;s apple and of course, Eve, have been discarded and tossed away. Now &ldquo;rotten to the core&rdquo;, the fruits of the utopian English garden have become a poisonous symbol of man&rsquo;s fall. Or perhaps they are nothing more ominous than evidence of a healthy diet in which their daily consumption contains the promise to keep the doctor away.

Rotten to the Core

A bronze cast of a mouldy apple core with reddish skin, painted to look real.

A life size watercolour of an apple core.

The Doctors Holiday

Fourteen framed watercolours on paper

A life size watercolour of an apple core.

A bronze cast of a skinny apple core with a long stork painted to look real.

Conscious

A bronze cast of a skinny apple core with a long stork painted to look real.

A print of the Artist as Andy Warhol in black on a grey and mauve camouflage background.

Fright Wig Camouflage Grey and Mauve

Warhol

A print of the Artist as Andy Warhol in black on a grey and mauve camouflage background.

A bronze cast of a curved, browning apple core with large pips and red skin, painted to look real.

Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures. Heavy with the symbolism of an English Eden, these once ripe fruits, alongside their associations with knowledge and temptation, Adam’s apple and of course, Eve, have been discarded and tossed away. Now “rotten to the core”, the fruits of the utopian English garden have become a poisonous symbol of man’s fall. Or perhaps they are nothing more ominous than evidence of a healthy diet in which their daily consumption contains the promise to keep the doctor away.

A bronze cast of a curved, browning apple core with large pips and red skin, painted to look real.

A life size watercolour of an apple core.

Wattle &amp; Daub

Wattle & Daub

A bronze cast of a short, stubby apple core with green skin and pips showing, painted to look real.

The Be All and End All

A bronze cast of a short, stubby apple core with green skin and pips showing, painted to look real.

Having previously made work with tea stains on watercolour paper, Turk produced a limited edition run of signed Rich Tea biscuits for the 2006 Art Car Boot Fair, the original biscuit having been both signed and bitten by the artist. He views tea (and biscuits) as essential to the clich&eacute;d cultural history of Britain as a tea-drinking nation, as much a part of the landscape as Constable, Henry Moore and William Morris a kind of &lsquo;Rusk&rsquo;inian romanticism. Importantly, the biscuits have a bite out of them. &ldquo;The bite disrupted the circularity of the biscuit, it was almost like the loss of innocence, the bite of the Apple&rdquo;

Rich Tea Biscuit

Bitten and signed rich tea biscuit

Readymade

Having previously made work with tea stains on watercolour paper, Turk produced a limited edition run of signed Rich Tea biscuits for the 2006 Art Car Boot Fair, the original biscuit having been both signed and bitten by the artist. He views tea (and biscuits) as essential to the clichéd cultural history of Britain as a tea-drinking nation, as much a part of the landscape as Constable, Henry Moore and William Morris a kind of ‘Rusk’inian romanticism. Importantly, the biscuits have a bite out of them.

A bronze cast of a greenish apple core with a whole around its pips, painted to look real. Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures. Heavy with the symbolism of an English Eden, these once ripe fruits, alongside their associations with knowledge and temptation, Adam&rsquo;s apple and of course, Eve, have been discarded and tossed away. Now &ldquo;rotten to the core&rdquo;, the fruits of the utopian English garden have become a poisonous symbol of man&rsquo;s fall. Or perhaps they are nothing more ominous than evidence of a healthy diet in which their daily consumption contains the promise to keep the doctor away.

Exquisite Corpse

A bronze cast of a greenish apple core with a whole around its pips, painted to look real.

Five black bin bags printed on a white background. Inspired by Yves Klein's Anthropometric paintings.

Bags Begin to Fly

Five black bin bags printed on a white background. Inspired by Yves Klein's Anthropometric paintings.